[1] 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 Ar-ta-xerx'es
the king: [2] Of the sons of Phin'ehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ith'amar,
Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush, [3] of the sons of Shecani'ah. Of
the sons of Parosh, Zechari'ah, with whom were registered one hundred and
fifty men. [4] Of the sons of Pa'hath-mo'ab, Eli-e-ho-e'nai the son of
Zerahi'ah, and with him two hundred men. [5] Of the sons of Zattu,
Shecani'ah the son of Jaha'ziel, and with him three hundred men. [6] Of the
sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty men. [7] Of the
sons of Elam, Jeshai'ah the son of Athali'ah, and with him seventy men. [8]
Of the sons of Shephati'ah, Zebadi'ah the son of Michael, and with him
eighty men. [9] Of the sons of Jo'ab, Obadi'ah the son of Jehi'el, and with
him two hundred and eighteen men. [10] Of the sons of Bani, Shelo'mith the
son of Josiphi'ah, and with him a hundred and sixty men. [11] Of the sons
of Be'bai, Zechari'ah, the son of Be'bai, and with him twenty-eight men.
[12] Of the sons of Azgad, Joha'nan the son of Hak'katan, and with him a
hundred and ten men. [13] Of the sons of Adoni'kam, those who came later,
their names being Eliph'elet, Jeu'el, and Shemai'ah, and with them sixty
men. [14] Of the sons of Bigva'i, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them seventy
men. [15] I gathered them to the river that runs to Aha'va, and there we
encamped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found
there none of the sons of Levi. [16] Then I sent for Elie'zer, Ar'i-el,
Shemai'ah, Elna'than, Jarib, Elna'than, Nathan, Zechari'ah, and Meshul'lam,
leading men, and for Joi'arib and Elna'than, who were men of insight, [17]
and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphi'a, telling them
what to say to Iddo and his brethren the temple servants at the place
Casiphi'a, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. [18] And
by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of discretion,
of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebi'ah with
his sons and kinsmen, eighteen; [19] also Hashabi'ah and with him Jeshai'ah
of the sons of Merar'i, with his kinsmen and their sons, twenty; [20]
besides two hundred and twenty of the temple servants, whom David and his
officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all mentioned by
name. [21] Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Aha'va, that we
might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way 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, "The hand of our God is for
good upon all that seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all that
forsake him." [23] So we fasted and besought our God for this, and he
listened to our entreaty. [24] Then I set apart twelve of the leading
priests: Sherebi'ah, Hashabi'ah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. [25]
And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the
offering for the house of our God which the king and his counselors and his
lords and all Israel there present had offered; [26] I weighed out into
their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels
worth a hundred talents, and a hundred talents of gold, [27] twenty bowls
of gold worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze as
precious as gold. [28] And I said to them, "You are holy to the LORD, and
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, within the chambers of the house of
the LORD." [30] So the priests and the Levites 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 Aha'va on the
twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem; the hand of our God was
upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes
by the way. [32] 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 weighed into the hands of Mer'emoth the priest,
son of Uri'ah, and with him was Elea'zar the son of Phin'ehas, and with
them were the Levites, Jo'zabad the son of Jeshua and No-adi'ah the son of
Bin'nui. [34] The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of
everything was recorded. [35] At that time those who had come from
captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of
Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs,
and as a sin offering twelve he-goats; all this was a burnt offering to the
LORD. [36] They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps
and to the governors of the province Beyond the River; and they aided the
people and the house of God.