Ezra 8:1-23

English Standard Version

Genealogy of Those Who Returned with Ezra

8 These are the heads of their fathers' houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: ² Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of ^(A)Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, ^(B)Hattush. ³ Of the sons of Shecaniah, who was of the sons of ^(C)Parosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered 150 men. ^4 (D)Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men. ⁵ Of the sons of Zattu,^[a] Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men. ⁶ Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men. ⁷ Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men. ⁸ Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 men. ⁹ Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men. ¹⁰ Of the sons of Bani,^[b] Shelomith the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men. ^11 (E)Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and with him 28 men. ¹² Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men. ¹³ Of the sons of Adonikam, those who came later, their names being Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men. ¹⁴ Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

Ezra Sends for Levites

¹⁵ I gathered them to the river that runs to ^(F)Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there ^(G)none of the sons of Levi. ¹⁶ Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and ^(H)Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight, ¹⁷ and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers and^[c] the temple servants at the place Casiphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. ¹⁸ And ^(I)by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of ^(J)Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18; ¹⁹ also ^(K)Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of ^(L)the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20; ^20 (M)besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all ^(N)mentioned by name.

Fasting and Prayer for Protection

^21 (O)Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river ^(P)Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, ^(Q)to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. ²² For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, ^(R)“The hand of our God is for good on ^(S)all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” ²³ So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.