¹⁹ The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. Gain of booty they did not obtain.

²⁰ From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹ The torrent Kishon swept [the foe] away, the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength!

²² Then the horses’ hoofs beat loudly because of the galloping of [fleeing] valiant riders.

²³ Curse Meroz, said the messenger of the Lord. Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty!

²⁴ Blessed above women shall Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

²⁵ [Sisera] asked for water, and she gave [him] milk; she brought him curds in a lordly dish.

²⁶ She put her [left] hand to the tent pin, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer. And with the wooden hammer she smote Sisera, she smote his head, yes, she struck and pierced his temple.

²⁷ He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet. At her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—dead!

²⁸ The ^[a]mother of Sisera looked out at a window and wailed through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?

²⁹ Her wise ladies answered her, yet she repeated her words to herself,

³⁰ Have they not found and been dividing the spoil? A maiden or two for every man, a spoil of dyed garments for Sisera, a spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?

³¹ So let all Your enemies perish, O Lord! But let those who love Him be like the sun when it rises in its might. And the land had peace and rest for forty years.

¹⁵ I [Ezra] gathered them together at the river that runs to Ahava, and there we encamped three days. I reviewed the people and the priests, and found no Levites.

¹⁶ Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, Meshullam, who were chief men, and also for Joiarib and Elnathan,who were teachers.

¹⁷ And I sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them to say to Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim [temple servants] at the place Casiphia, Bring to us servants for the house of our God.

¹⁸ And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, named Sherebiah, with his sons and his kinsmen, 18;

¹⁹ And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20;

²⁰ Also 220 of the Nethinim, whose forefathers David and the officials had set apart [with their descendants] to attend the Levites. They were all mentioned by name.

²¹ Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a straight and right way for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

²² For I was ashamed to request of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, The hand of our God is upon all them for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.

²³ So we fasted and besought our God for this, and He heard our entreaty.

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen,

²⁵ And weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God which the king, his counselors, his lords, and all Israel there present had offered.

²⁶ I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels valued at 100 talents, and 100 talents of gold;

²⁷ Also 20 basins of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze, precious as gold.

²⁸ And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord, the vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

²⁹ Guard and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel in Jerusalem in the chambers of the house of the Lord.

³⁰ So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver, the gold, and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem into the house of our God.

³¹ We left the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the enemy and those who lay in wait by the way.

³² And we came to Jerusalem, and [had been] there three days.

¹⁵ I [Ezra] gathered them together at the river that runs to Ahava, and there we encamped three days. I reviewed the people and the priests, and found no Levites.

¹⁶ Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, Meshullam, who were chief men, and also for Joiarib and Elnathan,who were teachers.

¹⁷ And I sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them to say to Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim [temple servants] at the place Casiphia, Bring to us servants for the house of our God.

¹⁸ And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, named Sherebiah, with his sons and his kinsmen, 18;

¹⁹ And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20;

²⁰ Also 220 of the Nethinim, whose forefathers David and the officials had set apart [with their descendants] to attend the Levites. They were all mentioned by name.

²¹ Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a straight and right way for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

²² For I was ashamed to request of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, The hand of our God is upon all them for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.

²³ So we fasted and besought our God for this, and He heard our entreaty.

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen,

²⁵ And weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God which the king, his counselors, his lords, and all Israel there present had offered.

²⁶ I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels valued at 100 talents, and 100 talents of gold;

²⁷ Also 20 basins of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze, precious as gold.

²⁸ And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord, the vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

²⁹ Guard and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel in Jerusalem in the chambers of the house of the Lord.

³⁰ So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver, the gold, and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem into the house of our God.

³¹ We left the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the enemy and those who lay in wait by the way.

³² And we came to Jerusalem, and [had been] there three days.