Ezra 8
About EzraWritten by AI
Ezra tells how God brought His people home after the exile in Babylon. It picks up exactly where 2 Chronicles ends, with the decree of Cyrus, and covers roughly eighty years in two parts. Chapters 1 to 6 follow the first return and the long, interrupted work of rebuilding the temple. Chapters 7 to 10 follow Ezra himself, a priest and teacher of the Law, about sixty years later.
Ezra and Nehemiah were counted as one book in early Jewish tradition, and Ezra is traditionally credited with writing it, using lists, letters, and his own first-person memoirs. Some scholars think a later editor gathered the material. Parts of chapters 4 to 7 are written in Aramaic, the language of the Persian empire's letters.
Watch for the hand of God working through foreign kings, for opposition that slows but cannot stop His work, and for a people learning again to live by His word. Ezra “had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach.”
Before you read Ezra 8Written by AI
Ezra gathers families and Levites for the journey. At the Ahava Canal he calls a fast, because he was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers after telling him that God protects those who seek Him. They arrive safely, and the gold and silver are carefully counted and handed over.
The Exiles Who Returned with Ezra
These are the family heads and genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:
from the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom;
from the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel;
from the descendants of David, Hattush of the descendants of Shecaniah;
from the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men;
from the descendants of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men;
from the descendants of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men;
from the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men;
from the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men;
from the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men;
from the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men;
from the descendants of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men;
from the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 men;
from the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;
from the later descendants of Adonikam, these were their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men;
and from the descendants of Bigvai, both Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.
Ezra Sends for the Levites
Now I assembled these exiles at the canal that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And when I searched among the people and priests, I found no Levites there.
Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan. And I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, with a message for him and his kinsmen, the temple servants at Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.
And since the gracious hand of our God was upon us, they brought us Sherebiah—a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel—along with his sons and brothers, 18 men; also Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men. They also brought 220 of the temple servants, all designated by name. David and the officials had appointed them to assist the Levites.
Fasting for Protection
And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him.”
So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He granted our request.
Priests to Guard the Offerings
Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers, and I weighed out to them the contribution of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites there had offered for the house of our God.
I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver, articles of silver weighing 100 talents, 100 talents of gold, 20 gold bowls valued at 1,000 darics, and two articles of fine polished bronze, as precious as gold.
Then I told them, “You are holy to the LORD, and these articles are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers. Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem before the leading priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families.”
So the priests and Levites took charge of the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem.
On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.
Arrival in Jerusalem
So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days.
On the fourth day, in the house of our God, we weighed out the silver and gold and sacred articles into the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him, along with the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. Everything was verified by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.
Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a sin offering of 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.
They also delivered the king’s edicts to the royal satraps and governors of the region west of the Euphrates, who proceeded to assist the people and the house of God.