Ezra 8:24

24 I selected 12 of the leading priests, along with Sherebiah, Hashabiah,^[a] and 10 of their brothers.

Ezra 8:24 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 8:24

Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests
That were in company with him; so that it seems there were more than the two mentioned, ( Ezra 8:2 ) , very probably their families, or some of their brethren, were with them:

Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them;
these men named were Levites, and not priests, ( Ezra 8:18 Ezra 8:19 ) and therefore the copulative "and" must be supplied:

and Sherebiah
or with the twelve priests, Sherebiah, &c. and ten Levites more with them; so that the number of priests and Levites were equal, and in all twenty four.

Ezra 8:24 In-Context

22 [I did this] because I was ashamed to ask the king for infantry and cavalry to protect us from enemies during the journey, since we had told him, "The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who abandon Him."

23 So we fasted and pleaded with our God about this, and He granted our request.

24 I selected 12 of the leading priests, along with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and 10 of their brothers.

25 I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the articles-the contribution for the house of our God that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites who were present had offered.

26 I weighed out to them 24 tons of silver, silver articles weighing 7,500 pounds, 7,500 pounds of gold,

Footnotes

• [a]. Neh 10:9-12