1   These are the heads of families, as registered, family by family, of those who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxerxes: of the family of Phinehas, Gershom; 2   of the family of Ithamar, Daniel; 3   of the family of David, Hattush son of ^note Shecaniah; of the family of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him a hundred and fifty males in the register; 4   of the family of Pahath-moab, Elihoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males; 5   of the family of Zattu, ^note Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males; 6   of the family of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males; 7   of the family of Elam, Isaiah son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males; 8   of the family of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him eighty males; 9   of the family of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males; 10   of the family of Bani, ^note Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him a hundred and sixty males; 11   of the family of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males; 12   of the family of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him a hundred and ten males. 13   The last were the family of Adonikam, and

Ezra's mission to Jerusalem these were their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males; 14   and the family of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and with them seventy males.

15   I assembled them by the river which flows toward Ahava; and we encamped there three days. When I reviewed the people and the priests, I found no Levite there. 16   So I sent Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, prominent men, and Joiarib and Elnathan, 17   men of discretion, with instructions to go to Iddo, the chief man of the settlement at Casiphia; and I gave them a message for him and ^note his kinsmen, the temple-servitors there, asking for servitors for the house of our God to be sent to us. 18   And, because the gracious hand of our God was upon us, they let us have Sherebiah, a man of discretion, of the family of Mahli son of Levi, son of Israel, together with his sons and kinsmen, eighteen men; 19   also Hashabiah, together with Isaiah of the family of Merari, his kinsmen and their sons, twenty men; 20   besides two hundred and twenty temple-servitors (this was an order instituted by David and his officers to assist the Levites). These were all indicated by name.

21   Then I proclaimed a fast there by the river Ahava, so that we might mortify ourselves before our God and ask from him a safe journey for ourselves, our dependants, and all our possessions. 22   For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against enemies on the way, because we had said to the king, ‘The hand of our God is upon all who seek him, working their good; but his fierce anger is on all who forsake him.’ 23   So we fasted and asked our God for a safe journey, and he answered our prayer.

24   Then I separated twelve of the chiefs of the priests, together with ^note Sherebiah and Hashabiah and ten of their kinsmen, 25   and handed over to them the silver and gold and the vessels which had been set aside by the king, his counsellors and his officers and all the Israelites who were present, as their contribution to the house of our God. 26   I handed over to them six hundred and fifty talents of silver, a hundred silver vessels weighing two talents, 27   a hundred talents of gold, twenty golden bowls worth a thousand drachmas, and two vessels of a fine red copper, ^note precious as gold. 28   And I said to the men, ‘You are dedicated to the Lord, and the vessels too are sacred; the silver and gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord the God of your fathers. 29   Watch over them and guard them, until you hand them over in the presence of the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and the heads of families of Israel in Jerusalem, in the rooms of the house of the Lord.’

30   So the priests and Levites received the consignment of silver and gold

Ezra's mission to Jerusalem and vessels, to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem; 31   and on the twelfth day of the first month we left the river Ahava bound for Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us, and he saved us from enemy attack and from ambush on the way. 32   When we arrived at Jerusalem, we rested for three days. 33   And on the fourth day the silver and gold and the vessels were deposited in the house of our God in the charge of Meremoth son of Uriah the priest, who had with him Eleazar son of Phinehas, and they had with them the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. 34   Everything was checked as it was handed over, and at the same time a written record was made of the whole consignment. 35   Then those who had come home from captivity, the exiles who had returned, offered as whole-offerings to the God of Israel twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams and seventy-two ^note lambs, with twelve he-goats as a sin-offering; all these were offered as a whole-offering to the Lord. 36   They also delivered the king's commission to the royal satraps and governors in the province of Beyond-Euphrates; and these gave support to the people and the house of God.

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