Dual Panel1These are the heads of families, as registered, family by family, of those who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxerxes:
2of the line of Phinehas, Gershom; of the line of Ithamar, Daniel; of the line of David, Hattush
3son of Shecaniah; of the line of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him a hundred and fifty males in the register;
4of the line of Pahath-moab, Elihoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males;
5of the line of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males;
6of the line of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males;
7of the line of Elam, Isaiah son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males;
8of the line of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him eighty males;
9of the line of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males;
10of the line of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him a hundred and sixty males;
11of the line of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males;
12of the line of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him a hundred and ten males.
13The last were the line of Adonikam, and these were their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males;
14and the line of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and with them seventy males.
15I assembled them by the river which flows towards Ahava, and we encamped there for three days. I checked the people and the priests, and finding no one there who was a Levite,
16I sent to Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, prominent men, and Joiarib and Elnathan, men of discretion,
17and instructed them to go to Iddo, the head of the settlement at Casiphia; and I gave them a message for him and his colleagues, the temple servitors there, asking that there should be sent to us men to serve in the house of our God.
18Under the providence of God they sent us Sherebiah, a man of discretion, of the line of Mahli son of Levi, son of Israel, together with his sons and kinsmen, eighteen men in all;
19also Hashabiah, together with Isaiah of the line of Merari, his kinsmen and their sons, twenty men;
20besides two hundred and twenty temple servitors, an order instituted by David and his officers to assist the Levites. These were all indicated by name.
21I proclaimed a fast there by the river Ahava, so that we might mortify ourselves before our God and ask him for a straightforward journey for ourselves, our dependants, and all our possessions.
22I was ashamed to apply to the king for an escort of infantry and cavalry to protect us against enemies on the way, for we had told him that the might of our God would ensure a successful outcome for all those who looked to him; but his fierce anger is on all who forsake him.
23So we fasted and asked our God for a safe journey, and he answered our prayer.
24Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, together with Sherebiah and Hashabiah and ten of their kinsmen.
25I weighed out for them the silver and gold and the vessels, the contribution for the house of our God presented by the king, his counsellors and officers, and by all the Israelites there present, as their contribution to the house of our God.
26After weighing it, I handed over to them six hundred and fifty talents of silver, a hundred silver vessels weighing two talents, a hundred talents of gold,
27twenty gold dishes worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of a fine red copper, precious as gold.
28I said, “Just as you are consecrated to the LORD, so too are the sacred vessels; the silver and gold are a voluntary offering to the LORD the God of your fathers.
29Guard them with all vigilance until you weigh them at Jerusalem in the rooms of the LORD's house in the presence of the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and the heads of the families of Israel.”
30So the priests and the Levites received the consignment of silver and gold and vessels, to be taken to the house of God in Jerusalem.
31On the twelfth day of the first month we struck camp at the river Ahava and set out for Jerusalem. Under the protection of our God, who saved us from enemy attack and ambush on the way,
32we reached Jerusalem and rested there for three days.
33On the fourth day the silver and gold and vessels were weighed and handed over in the house of our God into the charge of Meremoth son of Uriah the priest, with whom was Eleazar son of Phinehas; present with them were the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.
34Everything was counted and weighed and every weight recorded then and there.
35Those who had returned from captivity offered as whole-offerings to the God of Israel twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, and seventy-seven lambs, with twelve he-goats as a purification-offering; all these were offered as a whole-offering to the LORD.
36They also delivered the king's commission to the royal satraps and governors in the province of Beyond-Euphrates; and these gave support to the people and the house of God.