Aug.
6
Ezra
7-8
Ezr
7:1 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of
Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of
Hilkiah,
Ezr
7:2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
Ezr
7:3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
Ezr
7:4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
Ezr
7:5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the
son of Aaron the chief priest;
Ezr
7:6 this Ezra went up from Babylon: and he was a ready scribe in the
law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given; and the
king granted him all his request, according to the hand of Yahweh his
God on him.
Ezr
7:7 There went up some of the children of Israel, and of the
priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the
Nethinim, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
Ezr
7:8 He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the
seventh year of the king.
Ezr
7:9 For on the first day
of the first month began he to go up from Babylon; and on the first
day of the
fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his
God on him.
Ezr
7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of Yahweh, and to do
it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances.
Ezr
7:11 Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes
gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of
the commandments of Yahweh, and of his statutes to Israel:
Ezr
7:12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of
the law of the God of heaven, perfect and so forth.
Ezr
7:13 I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and
their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are minded of their
own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you.
Ezr
7:14 Because you are sent of the king and his seven counselors, to
inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your
God which is in your hand,
Ezr
7:15 and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his
counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation
is in Jerusalem,
Ezr
7:16 and all the silver and gold that you shall find in all the
province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of
the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is
in Jerusalem;
Ezr
7:17 therefore you shall with all diligence buy with this money
bulls, rams, lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink
offerings, and shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God
which is in Jerusalem.
Ezr
7:18 Whatever shall seem good to you and to your brothers to do with
the rest of the silver and the gold, do that after the will of your
God.
Ezr
7:19 The vessels that are given to you for the service of the house
of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem.
Ezr
7:20 Whatever more shall be needful for the house of your God, which
you shall have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's
treasure house.
Ezr
7:21 I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the
treasurers who are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest,
the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it
be done with all diligence,
Ezr
7:22 to one hundred talents of silver, and to one hundred measures
of wheat, and to one hundred baths of wine, and to one hundred baths
of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
Ezr
7:23 Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done
exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be
wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
Ezr
7:24 Also we inform you, that touching any of the priests and
Levites, the singers, porters, Nethinim, or servants of this house of
God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, on
them.
Ezr
7:25 You, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God who is in your hand,
appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are
beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach
him who doesn't know them.
Ezr
7:26 Whoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the
king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it
be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to
imprisonment.
Ezr
7:27 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a
thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of Yahweh
which is in Jerusalem;
Ezr
7:28 and has extended loving kindness to me before the king, and his
counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes. I was
strengthened according to the hand of Yahweh my God on me, and I
gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.
Ezr
8:1 Now these are the heads of their fathers' houses,
and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon,
in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:
Ezr
8:2 Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar,
Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush.
Ezr
8:3 Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and
with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males one hundred fifty.
Ezr
8:4 Of the sons of Pahathmoab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah; and
with him two hundred males.
Ezr
8:5 Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel; and with him
three hundred males.
Ezr
8:6 Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan; and with him
fifty males.
Ezr
8:7 Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah; and with him
seventy males.
Ezr
8:8 Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael; and with
him eighty males.
Ezr
8:9 Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel; and with him two
hundred and eighteen males.
Ezr
8:10 Of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah; and with him
one hundred sixty males.
Ezr
8:11 Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai; and with him
twenty-eight males.
Ezr
8:12 Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him
one hundred ten males.
Ezr
8:13 Of the sons of Adonikam, who were
the last; and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah;
and with them sixty males.
Ezr
8:14 Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy
males.
Ezr
8:15 I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava; and
there we encamped three days: and I viewed the people, and the
priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.
Ezr
8:16 Then 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, who were teachers.
Ezr
8:17 I sent them forth to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and
I told them what they should tell Iddo, and
his brothers the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, that they should
bring to us ministers for the house of our God.
Ezr
8:18 According to the good hand of our God on us they brought us a
man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of
Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen;
Ezr
8:19 and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his
brothers and their sons, twenty;
Ezr
8:20 and of the Nethinim, whom David and the princes had given for
the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim: all of
them were mentioned by name.
Ezr
8:21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we
might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a straight way
for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.
Ezr
8:22 For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and
horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had
spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is on all those who
seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all those
who forsake him.
Ezr
8:23 So we fasted and begged our God for this: and he was entreated
of us.
Ezr
8:24 Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even
Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them,
Ezr
8:25 and weighed to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels,
even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, and his
counselors, and his princes, and all Israel there present, had
offered:
Ezr
8:26 I weighed into their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver,
and silver vessels one hundred talents; of gold one hundred talents;
Ezr
8:27 and twenty bowls of gold, of one thousand darics; and two
vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold.
Ezr
8:28 I said to them, You are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are
holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh,
the God of your fathers.
Ezr
8:29 Watch, and keep them, until you weigh them before the chiefs of
the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers' houses
of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Yahweh.
Ezr
8:30 So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the
silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to
the house of our God.
Ezr
8:31 Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day
of the first month, to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was
on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the bandit
by the way.
Ezr
8:32 We came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days.
Ezr
8:33 On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were
weighed in the house of our God into 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, the Levite;
Ezr
8:34 the whole by number and by weight: and all the weight was
written at that time.
Ezr
8:35 The children of the captivity, who had come out of exile,
offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all
Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats
for a sin offering: all this was a burnt offering to Yahweh.
Ezr
8:36 They delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps,
and to the governors beyond the River: and they furthered the people
and the house of God.