[1] Now these are the heads of families who were listed of those who went
up with me from Babylon, when Artaxerxes was king. [2] Of the sons of
Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David,
Hattush; [3] Of the sons of Shecaniah; of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah;
and with him were listed a hundred and fifty males. [4] Of the sons of
Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai, the son of Zerahiah; and with him two hundred
males. [5] Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel; and with him
three hundred males. [6] And of the sons of Adin, Ebed, the son of
Jonathan; and with him fifty males. [7] And of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah;
the son of Athaliah; and with him seventy males. [8] And of the sons of
Shephatiah, Zebadiah, the son of Michael; and with him eighty males. [9] Of
the sons of Joab, Obadiah, the son of Jehiel; and with him two hundred and
eighteen males. [10] And of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah;
and with him a hundred and sixty males. [11] And of the sons of Bebai,
Zechariah, the son of Bebai; and with him twenty-eight males. [12] And of
the sons of Azgad, Johanan, the son of Hakkatan; and with him a hundred and
ten males. [13] And of the sons of Adonikam, the last, whose names were
Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them sixty males. [14] And of the
sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy males. [15] And I
made them come together by the river flowing to Ahava; and we were there in
tents for three days: and after viewing the people and the priests I saw
that no sons of Levi were there. [16] Then I sent for Eliezer and Ariel and
Shemaiah and Elnathan Jarib and Elnathan and Nathan and Zechariah and
Meshullam, all responsible men; and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were wise
men. [17] And I sent them to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and gave
them orders what to say to Iddo and his brothers the Nethinim at the place
Casiphia, so that they might come back to us with men to do the work of the
house of our God. [18] And by the help of our God they got for us
Ish-sechel, one of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel;
and Sherebiah with his sons and brothers, eighteen; [19] And Hashabiah, and
with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons,
twenty; [20] And of the Nethinim, to whom David and the captains had given
the work of helping the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim, all of
them specially named. [21] Then I gave orders for a time of going without
food, there by the river Ahava, so that we might make ourselves low before
our God in prayer, requesting from him a straight way for us and for our
little ones and for all our substance. [22] For I would not, for shame,
make request to the king for a band of armed men and horsemen to give us
help against those who might make attacks on us on the way: for we had said
to the king, The hand of our God is on his servants for good, but his power
and his wrath are against all those who are turned away from him. [23] So
we went without food, requesting our God for this: and his ear was open to
our prayer. [24] So I put on one side twelve of the chiefs of the priests,
Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them, [25] And gave to
them by weight the silver and the gold and the vessels, all the offering
for the house of our God which the king and his wise men and his captains
and all Israel there present had given: [26] Measuring into their hands six
hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels, a hundred talents'
weight, and a hundred talents of gold, [27] And twenty gold basins, of a
thousand darics, and two vessels of the best bright brass, equal in value
to 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 an offering freely given to the
Lord, the God of your fathers. [29] Take care of them and keep them, till
you put them on the scales before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites
and the chiefs of the families of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the rooms of the
house of the Lord. [30] So the priests and the Levites took the weight of
silver and gold and the vessels, to take them to Jerusalem into the house
of our God. [31] Then we went away from the river of Ahava on the twelfth
day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was on
us, and he gave us salvation from our haters and those who were waiting to
make an attack on us by the way. [32] And we came to Jerusalem and were
there for three days. [33] And on the fourth day, the silver and the gold
and the vessels were measured out by weight in the house of our God into
the hands of Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the priest; and with him was
Eleazar, the son of Phinehas; and with them were Jozabad, the son of
Jeshua, and Noadiah, the son of Binnui, the Levites; [34] All was handed
over by number and by weight: and the weight was put on record at that
time. [35] And those who had been prisoners, who had come back from a
strange land, made burned offerings to the God of Israel, twelve oxen for
all Israel, ninety-six male sheep, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he-goats for
a sin-offering: all this was a burned offering to the Lord. [36] And they
gave the king's orders to the king's captains and the rulers across the
river, and they gave the people and the house of God the help which was
needed.