Ezra 8

Modern

Literal

The Exiles Who Returned with Ezra

¹These are the family heads and genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

¹And these are the heads of their fathers and the genealogy of those going up with me, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king, from Babylon:

²from the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom;

from the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel;

from the descendants of David, Hattush

²Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattush

³of the descendants of Shecaniah;

from the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men;

³of the sons of Shechaniah; of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered a hundred and fifty males;

⁴from the descendants of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men;

⁴of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males;

⁵from the descendants of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel,^a and with him 300 men;

⁵of the sons of Zattu, Shechaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males;

⁶from the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men;

⁶and of the sons of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males;

⁷from the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men;

⁷and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males;

⁸from the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men;

⁸and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him eighty males;

⁹from the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men;

⁹of the sons of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males;

¹⁰from the descendants of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah,^a and with him 160 men;

¹⁰and of the sons of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him a hundred and sixty males;

¹¹from the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 men;

¹¹and of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males;

¹²from the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;

¹²and of the sons of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him a hundred and ten males;

¹³from the later^a descendants of Adonikam, these were their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men;

¹³and of the later sons of Adonikam—and these are their names—Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males;

¹⁴and from the descendants of Bigvai, both Uthai and Zaccur,^a and with them 70 men.

¹⁴and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them seventy males;

Ezra Sends for the Levites

¹⁵Now I assembled these exiles at the canal that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And when I searched among the people and priests, I found no Levites there.

¹⁵and I gathered them to the river that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And I considered about the people and the priests, and from the sons of Levi I found none there.

¹⁶Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan,^a Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan.

¹⁶And I sent for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam—leaders—and for Joiarib and Elnathan—men of understanding.

¹⁷And I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, with a message for him and his kinsmen, the temple servants^a at Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.

¹⁷And I sent them to Iddo the leader in the place at Casiphia, and I told them what they should say to Iddo and his brothers the Nethinim at Casiphia the place, that they should bring to us those ministering for the house of our God.

¹⁸And since the gracious hand of our God was upon us, they brought us Sherebiah—a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel—along with his sons and brothers, 18 men;

¹⁸And they brought to us by the good hand of our God upon us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, Sherebiah, and his sons and his brothers, eighteen;

¹⁹also Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men.

¹⁹and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers, and their sons, twenty;

²⁰They also brought 220 of the temple servants, all designated by name. David and the officials had appointed them to assist the Levites.

²⁰and also of the Nethinim, whom David and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim. All of them were designated by name.

Fasting for Protection

²¹And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.

²¹And I proclaimed there a fast at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before the face of our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and for our little ones and for all our possessions.

²²For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him.”

²²For I was ashamed to ask of the king a force and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those who seek Him for good, and His strength and His wrath are against all forsaking Him.”

²³So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He granted our request.

²³And we fasted and sought from our God for this, and He was entreated of us.

Priests to Guard the Offerings

²⁴Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers,

²⁴And I separated twelve of the leaders of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers.

²⁵and I weighed out to them the contribution of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites there had offered for the house of our God.

²⁵And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the articles, the contribution of the house of our God, which the king, and his counselors, and his princes, and all Israel—those present—had offered.

²⁶I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver,^a articles of silver weighing 100 talents,^b 100 talents of gold,^c

²⁶And I weighed into their hands, six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and a hundred talents of articles of silver a hundred talents of gold,

²⁷20 gold bowls valued at 1,000 darics,^a and two articles of fine polished bronze, as precious as gold.

²⁷and twenty gold bowls of a thousand drachmas, and two vessels of fine polished bronze as precious as gold.

²⁸Then I told them, “You are holy to the LORD, and these articles are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers.

²⁸And I said to them, “You are holy to YHWH, and the articles are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to YHWH, God of your fathers.

²⁹Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem before the leading priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families.”

²⁹Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the face of the leaders of the priests, and the Levites, and the heads of the fathers of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of YHWH.”

³⁰So the priests and Levites took charge of the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem.

³⁰And the priests and the Levites received by weight the silver and the gold and the articles, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

³¹On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.

³¹And we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us, and He snatched us up from the hand of the enemy and the lier in wait along the road.

Arrival in Jerusalem

³²So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days.

³²And we came to Jerusalem and stayed there three days.

³³On the fourth day, in the house of our God, we weighed out the silver and gold and sacred articles into the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him, along with the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.

³³And on the fourth day it was weighed out—the silver and the gold and the articles in the house of our God—by the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah the priest, and with him Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui, the Levites,

³⁴Everything was verified by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.

³⁴by number, by weight of everything, and all the weight was recorded at that time.

³⁵Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a sin offering of 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.

³⁵Those coming in of the captives—the sons of the exile—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 a burnt offering to YHWH.

³⁶They also delivered the king’s edicts to the royal satraps^a and governors of the region west of the Euphrates,^b who proceeded to assist the people and the house of God.

³⁶And they delivered the laws of the king to the satraps of the king and the governors beyond the River, and they lifted up the people and the house of God.