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are the family heads, and this is the genealogy of those who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:
2of the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom; of the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel; of the descendants of David, Hattush 3 of the descendants of Shecaniah; of the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered a hundred and fifty men; 4of the descendants of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred men; 5of the descendants of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred men; 6of the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him fifty men; 7of the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him seventy men; 8 of the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him eighty men; 9of the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen men; 10of the descendants of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him a hundred and sixty men; 11of the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight men; 12of the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him a hundred and ten men; 13of the descendants of Adonikam, the last ones, whose names are: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty men; 14of the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them seventy men.
15 I assembled them by the river that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there three days. When I looked among the people and priests, I did not find any of the descendants of Levi there. 16 So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of understanding, 17 and I sent them to Iddo, the leader at the place called Casiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, the temple servants at Casiphia, so that they would send us ministers for the house of our God. 18 Then, because of the gracious hand of our God upon us, they brought us Sherebiah, a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, along with Sherebiah’s brothers and their sons, eighteen men; 19 and Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, twenty men. 20 There was also two hundred and twenty of the temple servants, whom David and the officials had appointed for the service of the Levites. All of these were designated by name.
21 There, by the Ahava River, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask of Him a safe journey for us and our children, and all our possessions. 22 I did this because I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies along the way, since we had told the king, “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 about this, and He answered our prayer.
24 Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests—Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them. 25 I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the articles—the offering for the house of God that the king, his counsellors, his officials, and all Israel who were present there had offered. 26 I weighed out to them six hundred and fifty talents of silver, silver articles weighing a hundred talents, a hundred talents of gold, 27 twenty gold bowls worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine polished bronze, as valuable as gold.
28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the articles are holy also. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. 29 Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the House of the Lord, before the leading priests and the Levites and the heads of the Israelite families in Jerusalem.” 30 So the priests and the Levites took charge of the silver, the gold, and the articles that had been weighed out, to bring them to the house of our God in Jerusalem.
31 We set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and from those who lay in wait to ambush along the way. 32 So we arrived at Jerusalem and remained there for three days.
33 On the fourth day the silver, the gold, and the articles were weighed out in the house of our God into the hands of the priest Meremoth son of Uriah. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him, and so were the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. 34 Everything was counted and weighed, and the total weight was recorded.
35 Then the exiles who had returned from captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and, as a sin offering, twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. 36 They also delivered the king’s edicts to the royal satraps and to the governors in the region west of the Euphrates River, who then gave their support to the people and the house of God.