Ezra 8:24-30

Priests to Guard Offerings

24 Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: ¹Sherebiah, ²Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them.

25 And I weighed out to them the ³silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his ⁴counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered.

26 ⁵I weighed out into their hand 650 talents^[a] of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents,^[b] and 100 talents of gold,

27 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics,^[c] and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold.

28 And I said to them, ⁶"You are holy to the LORD, and ⁷the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers.

29 Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem, ⁸within the chambers of the house of the LORD."

30 So the priests and the Levites ⁹took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

Ezra 8:24-30 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 8

In this chapter we are told who and how many went up with Ezra to Jerusalem, Ezr 8:1-14, the gathering of them together at a river, from whence he sent to Babylon for Levites to come to him, who did, Ezr 8:15-20, the proclaiming a fast for a safe and prosperous journey, Ezr 8:21-23, the delivery of the vessels and money given him into the hands of priests, to take the care and charge thereof, Ezr 8:24-30, their safe arrival at Jerusalem, where they deposited the gifts in the temple, offered sacrifices to God, and delivered the king's commissions to his lieutenants and governors, Ezr 8:31-36.

Cross References

• 1. [See ver. 19 above]
• 2. [See ver. 19 above]
• 3. Ezra 7:15, 16
• 4. See Ezra 7:14
• 5. [Ezra 1:9-11]
• 6. Leviticus 21:6
• 7. Leviticus 22:2, 3
• 8. [Ezra 10:6]
• 9. [See ver. 26 above]

Footnotes

• [a]. A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
• [b]. Revocalization; the number is missing in the Masoretic Text
• [c]. A daric was a coin weighing about 1/4 ounce or 8.5 grams