Ezra 8 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible™

Those Who Came Home With Ezra

Chapter 8.

These are the heads of their fathers' houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon during the reign of Artaxerxes the king:

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

Of the sons of Shecaniah. Of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered by genealogy 150 males.

Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 males.

Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 males.

Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 males.

Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 males.

Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 males.

Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 males.

Of the sons of Bani, Shelomith the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 males.

Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him 28 males.

Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 males.

Of the sons of Adonikam, the later ones, and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 males.

Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 males.

Ezra Seeks Ministers for the House

I gathered them at the river that runs toward Ahava, and we camped there three days. When I looked among the people and the priests, I found none of the sons of Levi there. So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight. And I sent them to Iddo, the leader at the place called Casiphia, and I told them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, the temple servants at Casiphia, so that they would bring us ministers for the house of our Father. And by the good hand of our Father upon us, they brought us a man of insight from the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen of them; and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, twenty of them; and 220 of the temple servants, whom David and the officials had set apart for the service of the Levites. All of them were registered by name.

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our Father, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from the enemy along the way, since we had told the king, "The hand of our Father is upon all who seek him for good, but his power and his anger are against all who forsake him." So we fasted and pleaded with our Father about this, and he listened to our prayer.

Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them. And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our Father that the king and his counselors and his officials and all Israel present there had offered. I weighed into their hands about 24 tons of silver, silver vessels worth about 4 tons, about 4 tons of gold, 20 gold basins worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine, gleaming bronze, as precious as gold. And I said to them, "You are holy to our Father, and these vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to our Father, the God of your fathers. Guard them and keep them until you weigh them out before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of our Father."

So the priests and the Levites took charge of the weighed-out silver and gold and vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our Father.

Then we set out from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our Father was upon us, and he rescued us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the way.

We came to Jerusalem and rested there three days. On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed out in the house of our Father into the hands of Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. Everything was counted and weighed, and the full weight was recorded at that time.

Then the returned exiles offered burnt offerings to our Father, the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering. All of it was a burnt offering to our Father. They also delivered the king's decrees to the king's satraps and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and these supported the people and the house of our Father. ^a

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