1These are the heads of their families. This is the list of those who came up with me from Babylon, during the reign of King Artaxerxes.
3Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh: Zechariah. With him were listed one hundred and fifty males.
4Of the sons of Pahathmoab: Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males.
5Of the sons of Shechaniah: the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males.
6Of the sons of Adin: Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males.
7Of the sons of Elam: Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males.
8Of the sons of Shephatiah: Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him eighty males.
10Of the sons of Shelomith: the son of Josiphiah, and with him one hundred and sixty males.
11Of the sons of Bebai: Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males.
12Of the sons of Azgad: Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him one hundred and ten males.
13Of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males.
14Of the sons of Bigvai: Uthai and Zabbud, and with them seventy males.
15I gathered them together at the river that runs to Ahava. There we camped in tents for three days. I looked over the people and the priests, and I found none of the sons of Levi there.
16Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leading men. I also sent for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of understanding.
17I sent them with a message to Iddo, the chief man at the place called Casiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo and to his brothers the Nethinims at Casiphia: that they should bring us servants for the house of our God.
18By the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. They brought Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen in all.
19They also brought Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, twenty in all.
20There were also two hundred and twenty of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed to serve the Levites. All of them were named in the list.
21Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our God. We asked him for a safe journey for us, for our little ones, and for all our goods.
22I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road. For we had said to the king, "The hand of our God is upon all who seek him, for their good. But his power and his anger are against all who turn away from him."
23So we fasted and begged our God about this, and he listened to us.
24Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them.
25I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels. These were the offering for the house of our God, which the king, his counsellors, his lords, and all Israel who were there had given.
26I weighed into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, silver vessels weighing one hundred talents, and one hundred talents of gold.
27There were also twenty bowls of gold, worth a thousand drams, and two vessels of fine copper, as precious as gold.
28I said to them, "You are holy to the LORD, and the vessels are holy too. The silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the LORD God of your fathers."
29"Watch over them and keep them safe, until you weigh them out before the leading priests and the Levites, and the heads of the families of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the rooms of the house of the LORD."
30So the priests and the Levites took charge of the weight of the silver, the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.
31Then we set out from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us, and he saved us from the hand of the enemy, and from those who waited in ambush along the way.
32We came to Jerusalem and stayed there three days.
33On the fourth day the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God by Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest. With him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui, who were Levites.
34Everything was counted and weighed, and the whole weight was written down at that time.
35The children of those who had been carried away, who had come back from captivity, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.
36They handed the king's orders to the king's officers and to the governors on this side of the river. And these men helped the people and the house of God.