Bible Time

¹These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king. ²Of the sons of Phinehas; Gershom: of the sons of Ithamar; Daniel: of the sons of David; Hattush. ³Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh; Zechariah: and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males 150. ⁴Of the sons of Pahath- moab; Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 males. ⁵Of the sons of Shechaniah; the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 males. ⁶Of the sons also of Adin; Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 males. ⁷And of the sons of Elam; Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 males. ⁸And of the sons of Shephatiah; Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 males. ⁹Of the sons of Joab; Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 males. ¹⁰And of the sons of Shelomith; the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 males. ¹¹And of the sons of Bebai; Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him 28 males. ¹²And of the sons of Azgad; Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 males. ¹³And of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these, Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 males. ¹⁴Of the sons also of Bigvai; Uthai, and Zabbud, and with them 70 males.

¹⁵And I gathered them together to the river than runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents 3 days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi. ¹⁶Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding. ¹⁷And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God. ¹⁸And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, 18; ¹⁹And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, 20; ²⁰Also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, 220 Nethinims: all of them were expressed by name.

²¹Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little 1s, and for all our substance. ²²For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. ²³So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.

²⁴Then I separated 12 of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and 10 of their brethren with them, ²⁵And weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered: ²⁶I even weighed unto their hand 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels 100 talents, and of gold 100 talents; ²⁷Also 20 basons of gold, of 1000 drams; and 2 vessels of fine copper, precious as gold. ²⁸And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto the LORD; the vessels are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering unto the LORD God of your fathers. ²⁹Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and chief of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD. ³⁰So took the priests and the Levites the weight of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.

³¹Then we departed from the river of Ahava on day 12 of month 1, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. ³²And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there 3 days.

³³Now on day 4 was the silver and the gold and the vessels weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest; and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, Levites; ³⁴By number and by weight of every 1: and all the weight was written at that time. ³⁵Also the children of those that had been carried away, which were come out of the captivity, offered burnt offerings unto the God of Israel, 12 bullocks for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, 12 he goats for a sin offering: all this was a burnt offering unto the LORD.

³⁶And they delivered the king's commissions unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God.