8
“This is a list of the names of the clan leaders, along with the names of their clans, who traveled {to Jerusalem} with me from Babylonia when Artaxerxes was king {of Persia}:2 Gershom from the clan descended from {Aaron’s grandson} Phinehas.
Daniel from the clan descended from {Aaron’s son} Ithamar.
Zechariah and 150 other men from the clan descended from Parosh.
4 Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah and 200 other men from the clan descended from Pahath-Moab.
5 Shecaniah son of Jahaziel and 300 other men from the clan descended from {Zattu}.
6 Ebed son of Jonathan and 50 other men from the clan descended from Adin.
7 Jeshaiah son of Athaliah and 70 other men from the clan descended from Elam.
8 Zebadiah son of Michael and 80 other men from the clan descended from Shephatiah.
9 Obadiah son of Jehiel and 218 other men from the clan descended from Joab.
10 Shelomith son of Josiphiah and 160 other men from the clan descended from {Bani}.
11 Zechariah son of Bebai and 28 other men from the clan descended from {another man whose name was} Bebai.
12 Johanan son of Hakkatan and 110 other men from the clan descended from Azgad.
13 Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah and 60 other men from the clan descended from Adonikam. They were the last three leaders from the clan descended from Adonikam {that had not returned earlier with Zerubbabel}.
14 Uthai and Zaccur and 70 other men from the clan descended from Bigvai.
15 {This is an account of how we traveled to Jerusalem.} I gathered together all of these Israelites at the canal that goes from Babylon to Ahava. We set up our tents and stayed there for three days. {During that time} I interviewed the people and the priests and discovered that there were no Levites among us. 16 So I summoned Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, {another man named} Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were all leaders of the people. I also summoned Joiarib and {a third man named} Elnathan, who were wise. 17 I sent them all to Iddo, a Levite leader who was living in a place called Kasiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo and to his fellow Levites, the {descendants of} temple workers whom he oversaw there. I wanted them to send us some men who would {go with us to} work in the temple of our God.
18 Because God acted kindly toward us, they brought us a very wise man named Sherebiah and 18 of his sons and other relatives. He was a descendant of Mahli, who was a grandson of Levi, the son of Israel. 19 {They} also {sent to us} Hashabiah, along with Jeshaiah, and 20 of his brothers and their sons. Both men were descendants of Merari {the son of Levi}. 20 They also sent 220 other men to work in the temple. King David and his officials had apppointed the ancestors of these men to assist the Levites. I listed the names of all of these men.
21 There alongside the Ahava Canal, I announced a time for all of us to abstain from eating food {and to pray}. {I told them that this was a time} to humble ourselves in the presence of our God and to pray that God would protect us, our children, and our possessions while we traveled. 22 Previously we had told the king that our God takes care of all those who truly trust in him, but that he powerfully punishes everyone who refuses to obey him. So I would have been ashamed to ask the king to send soldiers and men riding on horses to protect us from our enemies while we were traveling along the road. 23 So we abstained from eating food and we asked our God to protect us. We prayed to him, and he answered our prayer.
24 I chose 12 of the leaders of the priests and brought them together with Sherebiah and Hashabiah and ten of the other Levites. 25 I assigned to each of them a portion of the gifts of silver and gold and the other valuable items {to transport to Jerusalem}. These were the items that the king and his advisors and other officials, and the Israelite people who were living in Babylonia, had contributed for the temple of our God. 26 As I gave these various items to those men, I weighed each of the items. This was the total: about 21 and one half metric tons of silver, items made from silver that altogether weighed three and one third metric tons, three and one third metric tons of gold, 27 20 gold bowls that altogether weighed about eight and one-half kilograms, and two items made of beautiful polished bronze that were as valuable as ones made of gold. 28 I said to those priests and Levites, ‘I have set you apart from the others to serve Yahweh in a special way. The people have also set apart these valuable things for only him. The people also gave the silver and the gold voluntarily as an offering to Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped. 29 So guard them carefully. When we arrive in Jerusalem, weigh them out where the leading priests and Levites and the other leaders of the Israelite clans can see them. {They will then put them} in the storerooms in the temple of Yahweh.’
30 So these priests and Levites said that they would be responsible to transport all of the {gifts of} silver and gold and other valuable items to the temple of our God in Jerusalem.
31 On the twelfth day of the first month, we left the Ahava Canal and started to travel to Jerusalem. Our God took care of us, and while we traveled, he prevented any enemies from attacking or robbing us. 32 After we arrived in Jerusalem, we rested for three days. 33 Then on the fourth day we went to the temple of our God. There the priests and Levites weighed out the silver and gold and the other items and gave them to the leaders there. The leaders there were two priests, Meremoth the son of Uriah and Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and two Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. 34 They counted everything, and wrote down how much each item weighed, and wrote a description of each one as they received it.
35 The Babylonian soldiers had captured our ancestors and taken them away to Babylon, but now we who are their descendants have safely returned {to Israel}. So we offered sacrifices of burnt offerings to our God: 12 bulls, {one} for {each of the 12 tribes of} the Israelite people, 96 rams, and 77 lambs. We also sacrificed 12 male goats to atone for the sins {that all of the Israelite people had committed}. We offered all of these sacrifices to Yahweh by putting them on the fire {of the altar}.
36 Some of us who had returned from Babylonia took the letter that the king had given to us to the governors of the king’s provinces and to the officials of the province west of the Euphrates River. {After they read the letter,} they did what the king commanded for us {Israelite} people and for the temple of God.”