﻿Ezra.
Chapter 8.
These are the heads of the ancestral houses and the genealogical record of those who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes: 
From the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom; from the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel; from the descendants of David, Hattush, 
from the descendants of Shecaniah. From the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him 150 males registered by genealogy. 
From the descendants of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 males. 
From the descendants of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 males. 
From the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 males. 
From the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 males. 
From the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 males. 
From the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 males. 
From the descendants of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 males. 
From the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 males. 
From the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 males. 
From the descendants of Adonikam, the last ones, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 males. 
From the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and with him 70 males. 
I gathered them at the river that runs to Ahava, and we camped there for three days. I examined the people and the priests, but I found none of the descendants of Levi there. 
I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, men of understanding. 
I sent them out to Iddo, the leader at the place called Casiphia, and put in their mouths the words to speak to Iddo and his brothers, the men assigned to temple service at Casiphia, to bring us ministers for the house of our God. 
Because the good hand of our God was on us, they brought us a man of understanding from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, son of Israel: Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen in all; 
and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty in all. 
From the temple servants whom David and the officials had appointed to serve the Levites, they brought 220 temple servants. All were designated by name. 
I proclaimed a fast there at the Ahava River, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our little ones, and all our possessions. 
For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, but his power and his anger are against all who forsake him.” 
So we fasted and sought our God about this, and he answered our plea. 
Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers. 
I weighed out to them the silver, gold, and vessels, the contribution for the house of our God that the king, his counselors, his officials, and all the Israelites present had given. 
I weighed into their hands about 24 tons of silver, silver vessels weighing about 7,500 pounds, about 7,500 pounds of gold, 
twenty gold bowls worth 1,000 gold coins, and two vessels of fine, polished bronze, as precious as gold. 
I said to them, “You are holy to the LORD, and the vessels are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers. 
Be watchful and guard them until you weigh them out before the leading priests and Levites and the heads of Israel's ancestral houses in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD.” 
So the priests and the Levites received the weighed silver, gold, and vessels to bring to Jerusalem, to the house of our God. 
We set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he rescued us from the hand of the enemy and from those lying in wait along the way. 
We arrived in Jerusalem and stayed there three days. 
On the fourth day the silver, gold, and vessels were weighed out in the house of our God into the hands of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. With him was Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. 
Everything was counted and weighed, and the entire weight was recorded at that time. 
The exiles who had returned from captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD. 
They delivered the king's decrees to the king's satraps and to the governors of Beyond the River, who supported the people and the house of God. 
