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Ezra 7-8
New International Version
Ezra 7-8
New International Version
Ezra Comes to Jerusalem
7 After these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes(A) king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah,(B) the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,(C) 2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok,(D) the son of Ahitub,(E) 3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas,(F) the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest— 6 this Ezra(G) came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted(H) him everything he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.(I) 7 Some of the Israelites, including priests, Levites, musicians, gatekeepers and temple servants, also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.(J)
8 Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king. 9 He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him.(K) 10 For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching(L) its decrees and laws in Israel.
King Artaxerxes’ Letter to Ezra
11 This is a copy of the letter King Artaxerxes had given to Ezra the priest, a teacher of the Law, a man learned in matters concerning the commands and decrees of the Lord for Israel:
12 Artaxerxes, king of kings,(M)
To Ezra the priest, teacher of the Law of the God of heaven:
Greetings.
13 Now I decree that any of the Israelites in my kingdom, including priests and Levites, who volunteer to go to Jerusalem with you, may go. 14 You are sent by the king and his seven advisers(N) to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the Law of your God, which is in your hand. 15 Moreover, you are to take with you the silver and gold that the king and his advisers have freely given(O) to the God of Israel, whose dwelling(P) is in Jerusalem, 16 together with all the silver and gold(Q) you may obtain from the province of Babylon, as well as the freewill offerings of the people and priests for the temple of their God in Jerusalem.(R) 17 With this money be sure to buy bulls, rams and male lambs,(S) together with their grain offerings and drink offerings,(T) and sacrifice(U) them on the altar of the temple of your God in Jerusalem.
18 You and your fellow Israelites may then do whatever seems best with the rest of the silver and gold, in accordance with the will of your God. 19 Deliver(V) to the God of Jerusalem all the articles entrusted to you for worship in the temple of your God. 20 And anything else needed for the temple of your God that you are responsible to supply, you may provide from the royal treasury.(W)
21 Now I, King Artaxerxes, decree that all the treasurers of Trans-Euphrates are to provide with diligence whatever Ezra the priest, the teacher of the Law of the God of heaven, may ask of you— 22 up to a hundred talents[a] of silver, a hundred cors[b] of wheat, a hundred baths[c] of wine, a hundred baths[d] of olive oil, and salt without limit. 23 Whatever the God of heaven has prescribed, let it be done with diligence for the temple of the God of heaven. Why should his wrath fall on the realm of the king and of his sons?(X) 24 You are also to know that you have no authority to impose taxes, tribute or duty(Y) on any of the priests, Levites, musicians, gatekeepers, temple servants or other workers at this house of God.(Z)
25 And you, Ezra, in accordance with the wisdom of your God, which you possess, appoint(AA) magistrates and judges to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates—all who know the laws of your God. And you are to teach(AB) any who do not know them. 26 Whoever does not obey the law of your God and the law of the king must surely be punished by death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.[e](AC)
27 Praise be to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who has put it into the king’s heart(AD) to bring honor(AE) to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way 28 and who has extended his good favor(AF) to me before the king and his advisers and all the king’s powerful officials. Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me,(AG) I took courage and gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.
List of the Family Heads Returning With Ezra
8 These are the family heads and those registered with them who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:(AH)
2 of the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom;
of the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel;
of the descendants of David, Hattush 3 of the descendants of Shekaniah;(AI)
of the descendants of Parosh,(AJ) Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men;
4 of the descendants of Pahath-Moab,(AK) Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men;
5 of the descendants of Zattu,[f] Shekaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men;
6 of the descendants of Adin,(AL) Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men;
7 of the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men;
8 of the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men;
9 of the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men;
10 of the descendants of Bani,[g] Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men;
11 of the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 men;
12 of the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;
13 of the descendants of Adonikam,(AM) the last ones, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men;
14 of the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai and Zakkur, and with them 70 men.
The Return to Jerusalem
15 I assembled them at the canal that flows toward Ahava,(AN) and we camped there three days. When I checked among the people and the priests, I found no Levites(AO) there. 16 So I summoned Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, who were leaders, and Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of learning, 17 and I ordered them to go to Iddo, the leader in Kasiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo and his fellow Levites, the temple servants(AP) in Kasiphia, so that they might bring attendants to us for the house of our God. 18 Because the gracious hand of our God was on us,(AQ) they brought us Sherebiah,(AR) a capable man, from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Sherebiah’s sons and brothers, 18 in all; 19 and Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and nephews, 20 in all. 20 They also brought 220 of the temple servants(AS)—a body that David and the officials had established to assist the Levites. All were registered by name.
21 There, by the Ahava Canal,(AT) I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey(AU) for us and our children, with all our possessions. 22 I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers(AV) and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone(AW) who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.(AX)” 23 So we fasted(AY) and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
24 Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, namely, Sherebiah,(AZ) Hashabiah and ten of their brothers, 25 and I weighed out(BA) to them the offering of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his advisers, his officials and all Israel present there had donated for the house of our God. 26 I weighed out to them 650 talents[h] of silver, silver articles weighing 100 talents,[i] 100 talents[j] of gold, 27 20 bowls of gold valued at 1,000 darics,[k] and two fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.
28 I said to them, “You as well as these articles are consecrated to the Lord.(BB) The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your ancestors. 29 Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem before the leading priests and the Levites and the family heads of Israel.” 30 Then the priests and Levites received the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem.
31 On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal(BC) to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us,(BD) and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way. 32 So we arrived in Jerusalem, where we rested three days.(BE)
33 On the fourth day, in the house of our God, we weighed out(BF) the silver and gold and the sacred articles into the hands of Meremoth(BG) son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him, and so were the Levites Jozabad(BH) son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.(BI) 34 Everything was accounted for by number and weight, and the entire weight was recorded at that time.
35 Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls(BJ) for all Israel,(BK) ninety-six rams, seventy-seven male lambs and, as a sin offering,[l] twelve male goats.(BL) All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. 36 They also delivered the king’s orders(BM) to the royal satraps and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates,(BN) who then gave assistance to the people and to the house of God.(BO)
Footnotes
- Ezra 7:22 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons
- Ezra 7:22 That is, probably about 18 tons or about 16 metric tons
- Ezra 7:22 That is, about 600 gallons or about 2,200 liters
- Ezra 7:22 That is, about 600 gallons or about 2,200 liters
- Ezra 7:26 The text of 7:12-26 is in Aramaic.
- Ezra 8:5 Some Septuagint manuscripts (also 1 Esdras 8:32); Hebrew does not have Zattu.
- Ezra 8:10 Some Septuagint manuscripts (also 1 Esdras 8:36); Hebrew does not have Bani.
- Ezra 8:26 That is, about 24 tons or about 22 metric tons
- Ezra 8:26 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons
- Ezra 8:26 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons
- Ezra 8:27 That is, about 19 pounds or about 8.4 kilograms
- Ezra 8:35 Or purification offering
Ezra 7-8
Revised Geneva Translation
Ezra 7-8
Revised Geneva Translation
7 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, was Ezra, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the High Priest.
6 This Ezra came up from Babel and was a scribe, skilled in the Law of Moses which the LORD God of Israel had given. And the king gave him all his request according to the Hand of the LORD his God which was upon him.
7 And in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, some of the children of Israel, and of the priests and the Levites, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim, went up to Jerusalem.
8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
9 For upon the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babel. And on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem, according to the good Hand of his God that was upon him.
10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach the Precepts and Judgments in Israel.
11 And this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the Priest and scribe, a writer of the Words of the Commandments of the LORD, and of His Statutes, over Israel:
12 “ARTAXERXES, king of kings, to Ezra the Priest and perfect scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven, and to Cheeneth,
13 “I have given commandment that every one of the people in my kingdom— of Israel and of the priests and Levites—who is willing to go to Jerusalem with you, shall go.
14 “Therefore, you are sent from the king and his seven counselors to enquire in Judah and Jerusalem, according to the Law of your God which is in your hand,
15 “and to carry the silver and the gold which the king and his counselors willingly offer to the God of Israel (whose habitation is in Jerusalem)
16 “and all the silver and gold that you can find in all the province of Babel, with the free offering of the people, and that which the priests offer willingly to the House of their God which is in Jerusalem,
17 “so that you may speedily buy bulls, rams and lambs, with their Meat Offerings and their Drink Offerings, with this silver. And you shall offer them upon the Altar of the House of your God, which is in Jerusalem.
18 “And whatever it pleases you and your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and gold, do it according to the will of your God.
19 “And the vessels that are given to you for the service of the House of your God, deliver those before God in Jerusalem.
20 “And the rest that shall be needed for the House of your God, which shall be right for you to bestow, you shall bestow it out of the king’s treasure house.
21 “And I, King Artaxerxes, have given commandment to all the treasurers which are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the Priest and scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven shall require of you, that it be done immediately,
22 “to a hundred talents of silver, to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without writing.
23 “Whatever is by the Commandment of the God of Heaven, let it be done speedily for the House of the God of Heaven. For why should He be angry against the realm of the king and his children?
24 “And we inform you that upon any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, Nethinim, or ministers in this House of God, no governor shall lay toll, tribute or custom.
25 “And you, Ezra (after the wisdom of your God that is in your hand), set judges and arbiters which may judge all the people who are beyond the River, all that know the Law of your God. And teach those who do not know it.
26 “And whoever will not do the Law of your God, and the king’s law, let him have judgment without delay, whether it be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.”
27 Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, Who has put such in the king’s heart, to beautify the House of the LORD that is in Jerusalem,
28 and has inclined mercy toward me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes! And I was comforted by the Hand of the LORD my God upon me. And I gathered the chief of Israel to go up with me.
8 These, now, are the chief fathers of those—and the genealogy of those— who came up with me from Babel, in the reign of King Artaxerxes.
2 Of the sons of Phinehas came Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar came Daniel. Of the sons of David came Hattush.
3 Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh came Zechariah, and the count of the males with him was one hundred fifty.
4 Of the sons of Pahath-Moab came Elihoenai, the son of Zerahiah, and two hundred males with him.
5 Of the sons of Shechaniah came the son of Jahaziel, and three hundred males with him.
6 And of the sons of Adin came Ebed, the son of Jonathan, and fifty males with him.
7 And of the sons of Elam came Jeshaiah, the son of Athaliah, and seventy males with him.
8 And of the sons of Shephatiah came Zebadiah, the son of Michael, and eighty males with him.
9 Of the sons of Joab came Obadiah, the son of Jehiel, and two hundred eighteen males with him.
10 And of the sons of Shelomith came the son of Josiphiah, and one hundred sixty males with him.
11 And of the sons of Bebai came Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and twenty-eight males with him.
12 And of the sons of Azgad came Johanan, the son of Hakkatan, and one hundred ten males with him.
13 And of the sons of Adonikam came the last, whose names are these: Eliphelet, Jehiel and Shemaiah, and sixty males with them.
14 And of the sons of Bigvai came Uthai and Zabbud, and seventy males with them.
15 And I gathered them to the river that goes toward Ahava. And we stayed there for three days. Then I viewed the people, and the priests, and found none of the sons of Levi there.
16 Therefore I sent to Eliezer, to Ariel, to Shemeiah, and to Elnathan, and to Jarib, and to Elnathan, and to Nathan, and to Zechariah, and to Meshullam (the chief), and to Joiarib, and to Elnathan, men of understanding.
17 And I gave them a commandment for Iddo (the highest at the place of Casiphia). And I told them the words that they should speak to Iddo and to his brethren, the Nethinim, at the place of Casiphia, so that they would cause the ministers of the House of our God to come to us.
18 So, by 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, and Sherebiah with his sons and his brethren (eighteen).
19 Also Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah, of the sons of Merari, with his brethren, and their sons (twenty).
20 And of the Nethinim whom David had set—and the princes for the service of the Levites—two hundred twenty of the Nethinim, all of which were named by name.
21 And there at the river, by Ahava, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek of Him a right way for us, and for our children, and for all our possessions.
22 For I was ashamed to require an army and horsemen of the king, to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The Hand of our God is upon all those who seek Him in goodness. But His power and His wrath is against all those who forsake Him.”
23 So we fasted and sought our God for this. And He was entreated by us.
24 Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them,
25 and weighed the silver and the gold and the vessels for them, the offering of the House of our God which the king and his counselors and his princes and all Israel that was present had offered.
26 And I weighed to their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver, and one hundred talents in silver vessels, and one hundred talents in gold,
27 and twenty basins of gold of a thousand drams, and two vessels of shining bronze (very good and precious as gold).
28 And I said to them, “You are consecrated to the LORD. And the vessels are consecrated. And the gold and the silver are freely offered to the LORD God of your fathers.
29 “Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites, and the chief fathers 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, and of the gold, and of the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the House of our God.
31 Then we departed from the river Ahavah, on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the Hand of our God was upon us, and delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as laid in wait by the way.
32 And we came to Jerusalem and stayed there for three days.
33 And on the fourth day, the silver was weighed, and the gold, and the vessels, in the House of our God, by the hand of Meremoth, the son of Uriah the Priest. And with him was Eleazar, the son of Phinehas. And with them was Jozabad, the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, the son of Binnui (the Levites)
34 and all the weight was written at the same time, by number and by weight of each one.
35 Also, the children of the captivity who had come out of 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 sin—all a Burnt Offering to the LORD.
36 And they delivered the king’s commission to the king’s officers, and to the captains beyond the river. And they promoted the people, and the House of God.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
Revised Geneva Translation (RGT)
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