Ezra 8:1-34

People Who Went with Ezra

1 Now these are the heads of their fathers' households and the genealogical enrollment of those who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxerxes:

2 of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, ¹Hattush;

3 of the sons of Shecaniah who was of the sons of ²Parosh, Zechariah and with him 150 * males who were in the genealogical list;

4 of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah and 200 males with him;

5 of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel and 300 * males with him;

6 and of the sons of ³Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan and 50 males with him;

7 and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and 70 males with him;

8 and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael and 80 males with him;

9 of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel and 218 * * males with him;

10 and of the sons of Bani, Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah and 160 * males with him;

11 and of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai and 28 * males with him;

12 and of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan and 110 * males with him;

13 and of the sons of Adonikam, the last ones, these being their names, Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and 60 males with them;

14 and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and 70 males with them.

Ezra Sends for Levites

15 Now I assembled them at ⁴the river that runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days; and when I observed the people and the priests, I ⁵did not find any Levites * there.

16 So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, teachers.

17 I sent them to Iddo the leading man at the place Casiphia; and I told * * them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, ⁶the temple servants at the place Casiphia, that is, to bring ministers to us for the house of our God.

18 ⁷According to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a ⁸man of insight of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, and his sons and brothers, 18 * men;

19 and Hashabiah and Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, 20 men;

20 and 220 * of ⁹the temple servants, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, all of them designated by name.

Protection of God Invoked

21 Then I proclaimed ¹⁰a fast there at ¹¹the river of Ahava, that we might ¹²humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

22 For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, "¹³The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but ¹⁴His power and His anger are against all those who ¹⁵forsake Him."

23 So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He ¹⁶listened to our entreaty.

24 Then I set apart twelve * of the leading priests, ¹⁷Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers;

25 and I ¹⁸weighed out to them ¹⁹the silver, the gold and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king and ²⁰his counselors and his princes and all Israel present there had offered.

26 ²¹Thus I weighed into their hands 650 * * talents of silver, and silver utensils worth 100 talents, and 100 gold talents,

27 and 20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two utensils of fine shiny bronze, precious as gold.

28 Then I said to them, "²²You are holy to the LORD, and the ²³utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the LORD God of your fathers.

29 "Watch and keep them ²⁴until you weigh them before the leading priests, the Levites and the heads of the fathers' households of Israel at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD."

30 So the priests and the Levites ²⁵accepted the weighed out silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

31 Then we journeyed from ²⁶the river Ahava on ²⁷the twelfth * of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and ²⁸the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way.

32 ²⁹Thus we came to Jerusalem and remained there three days.

Treasure Placed in the Temple

33 On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils ³⁰were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of ³¹Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, 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.

34 Everything was numbered and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at that time.

Ezra 8:1-34 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. 1 Chronicles 3:22
• 2. Ezra 2:3
• 3. Ezra 2:15; Nehemiah 7:20; Nehemiah 10:16
• 4. Ezra 8:21, 31
• 5. Ezra 7:7; Ezra 8:2
• 6. Ezra 2:43
• 7. Ezra 7:6, 28
• 8. 2 Chronicles 30:22
• 9. Ezra 2:43; Ezra 7:7
• 10. 1 Samuel 7:6; 2 Chronicles 20:3
• 11. Ezra 8:15, 31
• 12. Leviticus 16:29; Leviticus 23:29; Isaiah 58:3, 5
• 13. Ezra 7:6, 9, 28
• 14. Joshua 22:16
• 15. 2 Chronicles 15:2
• 16. 1 Chronicles 5:20; 2 Chronicles 33:13
• 17. Ezra 8:18, 19
• 18. Ezra 8:33
• 19. Ezra 7:15, 16
• 20. Ezra 7:14
• 21. Ezra 1:9-11
• 22. Leviticus 21:6-8
• 23. Leviticus 22:2, 3
• 24. Ezra 8:33, 34
• 25. Ezra 1:9
• 26. Ezra 8:15, 21
• 27. Ezra 7:9
• 28. Ezra 8:22
• 29. Nehemiah 2:11
• 30. Ezra 8:30
• 31. Nehemiah 3:4, 21

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "Zakkur"
• [b]. Or "him"
• [c]. Lit "heads"
• [d]. Lit "head"
• [e]. Lit "put words in their mouth to say"
• [f]. So Gr; Heb "Iddo his brother"
• [g]. So Gr; Heb "with him Jeshaiah"
• [h]. Lit "straight way"
• [i]. Lit "help"
• [j]. Lit "upon all...for good"
• [k]. Lit "was entreated by us"