Ezra 8:24

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

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 For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him.

23 So we fasted and petitioned our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

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

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

26 I weighed out into their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver, and one hundred silver vessels worth . . . talents, and one hundred talents of gold,