Ezra 8 - English Standard Version (ESV)

Genealogy of Those Who Returned with Ezra

8 These are the heads of their fathers' houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: ² Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of ^(A)Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, ^(B)Hattush. ³ Of the sons of Shecaniah, who was of the sons of ^(C)Parosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered 150 men. ^{4 (D)}Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men. ⁵ Of the sons of Zattu,^[a] Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men. ⁶ Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men. ⁷ Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men. ⁸ Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 men. ⁹ Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men. ¹⁰ Of the sons of Bani,^[b] Shelomith the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men. ^{11 (E)}Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and with him 28 men. ¹² Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men. ¹³ Of the sons of Adonikam, those who came later, their names being Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men. ¹⁴ Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

Ezra Sends for Levites

¹⁵ I gathered them to the river that runs to ^(F)Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there ^(G)none of the sons of Levi. ¹⁶ Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and ^(H)Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight, ¹⁷ and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers and^[c] the temple servants at the place Casiphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. ¹⁸ And ^(I)by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of ^(J)Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18; ¹⁹ also ^(K)Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of ^(L)the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20; ^{20 (M)}besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all ^(N)mentioned by name.

Fasting and Prayer for Protection

^{21 (O)}Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river ^(P)Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, ^(Q)to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. ²² For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, ^(R)“The hand of our God is for good on ^(S)all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” ²³ So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

Priests to Guard Offerings

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: ^(T)Sherebiah, ^(U)Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. ²⁵ And I weighed out to them the ^(V)silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his ^(W)counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. ^{26 (X)}I weighed out into their hand 650 talents^[d] of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents,^[e] and 100 talents of gold, ²⁷ 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics,^[f] and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. ²⁸ And I said to them, ^(Y)“You are holy to the Lord, and ^(Z)the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. ²⁹ Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem, ^(AA)within the chambers of the house of the Lord.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites ^(AB)took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

³¹ Then we departed from the river Ahava ^(AC)on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. ^(AD)The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. ^{32 (AE)}We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. ³³ On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were ^(AF)weighed into the hands of ^(AG)Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, ^(AH)Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of ^(AI)Binnui. ³⁴ The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.

³⁵ At that time ^(AJ)those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, ^(AK)twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. ^{36 (AL)}They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's ^(AM)satraps^[g] and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and they aided the people and the house of God.

Footnotes

1. Ezra 8:5 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks of Zattu
2. Ezra 8:10 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks Bani
3. Ezra 8:17 Hebrew lacks and
4. Ezra 8:26 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
5. Ezra 8:26 Revocalization; the number is missing in the Masoretic Text
6. Ezra 8:27 A daric was a coin weighing about 1/4 ounce or 8.5 grams
7. Ezra 8:36 A satrap was a Persian official

Cross references

1. Ezra 8:2 : 1 Chr. 24:3, 4
2. Ezra 8:2 : [1 Chr. 3:22]
3. Ezra 8:3 : For ver. 3, see ch. 2:3-15
4. Ezra 8:4 : ch. 10:30
5. Ezra 8:11 : ch. 10:28
6. Ezra 8:15 : ver. 21, 31
7. Ezra 8:15 : [ch. 7:7]
8. Ezra 8:16 : ch. 10:15
9. Ezra 8:18 : See ch. 7:6
10. Ezra 8:18 : 1 Chr. 6:19
11. Ezra 8:19 : Neh. 12:24
12. Ezra 8:19 : 1 Chr. 6:1, 16
13. Ezra 8:20 : ch. 2:43; 7:7
14. Ezra 8:20 : Num. 1:17
15. Ezra 8:21 : See 2 Chr. 20:3
16. Ezra 8:21 : ver. 15, 31
17. Ezra 8:21 : [Ps. 5:8]
18. Ezra 8:22 : See ch. 7:6
19. Ezra 8:22 : [2 Chr. 15:2]
20. Ezra 8:24 : [See ver. 19 above]; Neh. 12:24
21. Ezra 8:24 : [See ver. 19 above]; Neh. 12:24
22. Ezra 8:25 : ch. 7:15, 16
23. Ezra 8:25 : See ch. 7:14
24. Ezra 8:26 : [ch. 1:9-11]
25. Ezra 8:28 : Lev. 21:6
26. Ezra 8:28 : Lev. 22:2, 3
27. Ezra 8:29 : [ch. 10:6]
28. Ezra 8:30 : [See ver. 26 above]; [ch. 1:9-11]
29. Ezra 8:31 : [ch. 7:9]
30. Ezra 8:31 : See ch. 7:6
31. Ezra 8:32 : Neh. 2:11
32. Ezra 8:33 : [ch. 1:9-11]
33. Ezra 8:33 : Neh. 3:4, 21
34. Ezra 8:33 : Neh. 11:16
35. Ezra 8:33 : Neh. 3:24
36. Ezra 8:35 : ch. 2:1
37. Ezra 8:35 : [ch. 6:17]
38. Ezra 8:36 : ch. 7:21
39. Ezra 8:36 : Esth. 3:12; 8:9; 9:3; Dan. 3:2, 3, 27; 6:2, 3