20
and from the temple servants, whom David and the princes had assigned to serve the L'vi'im, two hundred temple servants, all recorded by name.
21
Then, there at the Ahava River, I proclaimed a fast; so that we could humble ourselves before our God and ask a safe journey of him for ourselves, our little ones and all our possessions.
22
For I would have been ashamed to ask the king for a detachment of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies along the road, since we had said to the king, "The hand of our God is on all who seek him, for good; but his power and fury is against all who abandon him."
23
So we fasted and asked our God for this, and he answered our prayer.
24
Then I separated twelve of the chief cohanim, along with Sherevyah, Hashavyah and ten of their kinsmen.
25
I weighed out to them the silver, the gold and the utensils for the house of our God contributed by the king, his counselors, his princes and all Isra'el present there.
26
I weighed out and handed over to them twenty-one-and-a-half tons of silver, three-and-a-third tons of silver articles, three-and-a-third tons of gold,
27
twenty gold bowls weighing twenty-one pounds, and two vessels of fine burnished bronze as precious as gold.
28
Then I told them, "You are consecrated to ADONAI, the articles are holy, and the silver and gold are a voluntary offering for ADONAI the God of your ancestors.
29
Guard them carefully, until you weigh them before the chief cohanim and L'vi'im and the leaders of the fathers'clans in Yerushalayim, in the rooms of the house of ADONAI."
30
So the cohanim and L'vi'im received the consignment of silver and gold and the articles to bring to Yerushalayim, to the house of our God.