Beginning
The family leaders who returned with Ezra
8 We came from Babylon during the time that Artaxerxes was king. These are the leaders of clans who came with me, and the names of their families:
2 Gershom, from Phinehas's clan.
Daniel, from Ithamar's clan.
3 Shecaniah's son, Hattush, from David's clan.
Zechariah and 150 other men, from Parosh's clan.
4 Zerahiah's son, Eliehoenai, and 200 other men, from Pahath-Moab's clan.
5 Jahaziel's son, Shecaniah, and 300 other men, from Zattu's clan.
6 Jonathan's son, Ebed, and 50 other men, from Adin's clan.
7 Athaliah's son, Jeshaiah, and 70 other men, from Elam's clan.
8 Michael's son, Zebadiah, and 80 other men, from Shephatiah's clan.
9 Jehiel's son, Obadiah, and 218 other men, from Joab's clan.
10 Josiphiah's son, Shelomith, and 160 other men, from Bani's clan.
11 Bebai's son, Zechariah, and 28 other men, from Bebai's clan.
12 Hakkatan's son, Johanan, and 110 other men, from Azgad's clan.
13 Eliphelet, Jeuel, Shemaiah, and 60 other men, from Adonikam's clan. They came later.
14 Uthai, Zaccur, and 70 other men, from Bigvai's clan.
The journey to Jerusalem
15 I told all the people to come together at the river that runs towards Ahava. We stayed there for three days. I saw that there were Jewish people and priests, but I did not see any Levites. 16 So I asked them to send some of their leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam. I also asked for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were wise teachers. 17 I sent them all to Iddo, the leader in Casiphia. Iddo and his family were servants in the temple who were living in Casiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo. I wanted them to bring people who would serve God in his house.
18 God was kind to us and he helped us. So they brought Sherebiah to us. He was a worker who had special skills to make things. He was a descendant of Israel's son Levi. He belonged to the clan of Levi's son, Mahli. Sherebiah came with his sons and brothers. Together they were 18 men. 19 Hashabiah and Jeshaiah also came. They belonged to the clan of Levi's son, Merari. 20 men from their family came with them. 20 220 temple servants also came. King David had first chosen this group to help the Levites with their work. We made a list of all their names.
21 We were all waiting by the Ahava river. I told the people not to eat any food, so that we could pray to God for help. We asked him to keep us safe on the journey, with our children and all our things. 22 I was ashamed to ask the king to send his soldiers with us to keep us safe. He could have sent soldiers who rode on horses with us, or other soldiers. But we had said to the king, ‘Our God helps people who trust him and he keeps them safe. But he is very angry with people who turn away from him and he punishes them.’
23 So we ate no food and we prayed to our God about this. He answered our prayers.
24 I chose 12 of the most important priests to do an important job, as well as Sherebiah, Hashabiah and ten of their brothers. 25 I told them to take care of the valuable things that we had received for the temple of our God. These were silver and gold things and other special things that the king, his helpers and his officers had given to us. Israelite people who were living in Babylonia had also given us valuable things for the temple. I weighed all these things. 26 I weighed 20,000 kilograms of silver and 3,500 kilograms of things made from silver. I weighed 3,500 kilograms of gold 27 and 20 gold bowls that weighed 8.5 kilograms. I also gave to them two beautiful bowls made from bronze. They shone brightly and they were as valuable as gold.
28 I said to the men, ‘Like these special things, you people are also special. You all belong to the Lord. People have chosen to give the silver and gold to the Lord, the God that your ancestors served. 29 So you must be careful to keep them safe until you reach Jerusalem. When you get there, you must weigh them again. Do that in front of the leaders of the priests, the Levites and the leaders of Israelite families. Then they should store them in the rooms of the temple.’
30 Then they gave the silver, the gold and the other valuable things to the priests and the Levites. They would take them to the temple of our God in Jerusalem.
31 We began our journey from the Ahava river on the 12th day of the first month. We left there to go to Jerusalem. Our God kept us safe on the journey. No enemies attacked us and nobody robbed us on the way. 32 So we arrived safely in Jerusalem. We rested there for three days.
33 On the fourth day, we went to the house of our God. Then we weighed the silver, the gold and the other valuable things there. We gave them to Meremoth, the son of Uriah the priest. Phinehas's son, Eleazar was with him. Jeshua's son, Jozabad, and Binnui's son, Noadiah, were also there. They were Levites. 34 They weighed and counted everything carefully. They wrote everything in a list as they weighed it.
35 All the people who had returned from Babylon made burnt offerings as sacrifices to Israel's God. They offered to the Lord 12 bulls on behalf of all Israel. They also offered 96 male sheep and 77 lambs. They killed 12 male goats as a sin offering. They gave all these to the Lord as burnt offerings. 36 They also gave the king's letter with its commands to his officers and rulers in the region west of the Euphrates river. The king's officers helped the Israelite people and the work of God's temple.
Ezra's prayer
9 When we had done all these things, the Jewish leaders came to speak to me. They said, ‘Some of the Israelites have done disgusting things, like the people of other nations do. Some priests and Levites have done the same bad things. They live in the same way as the other people who live in this land, the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. They have not kept themselves separate. 2 They have married some of the foreign people's daughters. They have let their sons do the same thing. In this way, God's holy people have become mixed with the foreign people who live near to them. Our own leaders and officers have led the way in these bad things.’
3 When I heard this, I was very upset. I tore my shirt and my coat. I pulled out hair from my head and my beard. I was angry and ashamed. I sat down. 4 Then everyone who respected the words of Israel's God came around me. They were afraid of what God might do, because the Israelites who came from Babylon had not obeyed him. I continued to sit there, until the time of the evening sacrifice. I was still very upset.
5 When the time came for the evening sacrifice, I stood up. I still wore my shirt and coat that I had torn because I was so sad. Then I went down on my knees. I held out my hands and I prayed to the Lord, my God. 6 I said,
‘My God, I am too ashamed to look up at you. Our sins are very great. They are so many that they reach far above us. We are completely guilty. 7 Since our ancestors were alive, we have continued to do wrong things. Because of our sins, you have given our enemies power over us, our kings and our priests. Foreign kings and their armies have killed some of our people. They have made some of us prisoners. They have robbed us and they have caused us to be ashamed. And we are still ashamed today.
8 But now, for a short time, the Lord our God has been kind to us. He has let some of us remain alive. He has given us a safe place to live in this holy place. He has made our lives happier. He has given us rest from work as slaves. 9 We are still slaves, but our God has not left us alone to serve other people. Because he loves us, he has caused the kings of Persia to be kind to us. He has let us live so that we can build again the temple of our God. It had become a heap of stones, but now we have built it again. He has given us a safe place to live in Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah.
10 Our God, we can say nothing good about ourselves. We have turned away from your commands. 11 Your servants the prophets told us your laws. You said, “You will go and live in a land that is unclean. The people who live there have done wicked things. The whole land has been made unclean by all the evil things that they have done. 12 So you must not let your daughters marry their sons. And do not let your sons marry their daughters. Do not ever help them to live in peace and become strong. If you make yourselves separate from them, you will be strong yourselves. The land will give you good food to eat. After you die, the land will belong to your children, and to your descendants for ever.”
13 All these bad things have happened to us because we are guilty of many wicked things. But, our God, you still have not punished us as much as we deserve. You have let some of us remain alive. 14 But now we still refuse to obey your commands! Some of us have married foreign people who do disgusting things. If we continue to do that, you may destroy us all. None of us will remain alive! 15 Lord God of Israel, you are righteous. Only a few of us escaped from exile and remain as your people today. Now we stand before you as guilty people. Because of our sins, we do not deserve to come near to you.’
The people turn away from their sins
10 Ezra continued to pray, in front of God's temple. He was asking God to forgive his people's sins. He was weeping, and he was bending down low to the ground. While he was doing that, a big crowd of Israelite people came around him. There were men, women and children. They were also weeping loudly. 2 Then Shecaniah spoke to Ezra. Shecaniah was Jehiel's son, a descendant of Elam.
Shecaniah said, ‘We have not been faithful to our God. We have married foreign women from the nations who live near us. But Israel may still hope that God will forgive us. 3 We will make an agreement with our God. We will agree to send away these foreign women and their children. As our leader, you have told us we must do this. The people who respect our God's commands say the same thing. Now we want to do what God's law says is right. 4 Get up now! You must do something about this. We will help you, so you must be brave!’
5 So Ezra got up. He told the leaders of the priests, the Levites and all Israel's people to make a strong promise. They all promised God that they would do what they had said. 6 Then Ezra went away from the front of God's temple. He went to the room of Eliashib's son, Jehohanan. While Ezra stayed there, he did not eat any food or drink any water. He was still very sad because the people had not been faithful to God.
7 They wrote a message and they sent it to all the people in Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah. It said that all the Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon must come to Jerusalem. 8 If they did not arrive in three days, they would lose everything that belonged to them. They would no longer be part of the Israelite people. That is what the leaders and officers had decided should happen.
9 All the men from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin reached Jerusalem in three days.[a] It was the 20th day of the ninth month. All the people sat in the yard in front of God's temple. Their bodies were shaking because they were afraid. It was also raining.
10 Then Ezra the priest stood up. He said to the people, ‘You have not been faithful to your God. You have married foreign wives. You have caused the whole nation of Israel to be guilty. 11 Now you must agree to obey the Lord, the God that your ancestors worshipped. Turn away from your sins and do the things that please him. Make yourselves separate from the foreign people who live near you. Send away your foreign wives.’
12 All the people spoke with a loud voice. They said, ‘You are right. We will do as you say. 13 But we are many people and we cannot continue to stand here in the heavy rain. We will need more than one or two days to do what we must do. There are many of us who have done this bad sin. 14 So please let our officers decide what to do on behalf of us all. People who have married foreign wives should come here on certain days. People from each town should come on the right day, together with the leaders and judges from that town. In this way, we can make things right. Then our God will not be angry with us any longer.’
15 Only four men did not agree with this. They were Asahel's son, Jonathan, Tikvah's son, Jahzeiah, as well as Meshullam and Shabbethai, the Levite.
16 So the Jews who had returned from Babylon did what they had agreed to do. Ezra the priest chose family leaders for each clan. He wrote down their names. The leaders met together to decide what to do. They started on the first day of the tenth month. 17 They finished on the first day of the first month of the new year.
A list of the men with foreign wives
18 These are the priests who had married foreign wives.
From the clan of Jozadak's son, Jeshua, and his brothers:
Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, Gedaliah.
19 These men promised to send away their wives. Each of them gave a male sheep as a sacrifice because they were guilty.
20 From the clan of Immer:
Hanani, Zebadiah.
21 From the clan of Harim:
Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, Uzziah.
22 From the clan of Pashhur:
Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, Elasah.
23 From the Levites:
Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (also called Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, Eliezer.
24 From the singers:
Eliashib.
From the men who were guards at the temple gate:
Shallum, Telem, Uri.
25 These are the other Israelites who had married foreign wives.
From the clan of Parosh:
Ramiah, Izziah, Malkijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malkijah, Benaiah.
26 From the clan of Elam:
Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, Elijah.
27 From the clan of Zattu:
Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, Aziza.
28 From the clan of Bebai:
Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai.
29 From the clan of Bani:
Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, Jeremoth.
30 From the clan of Pahath-Moab:
Adna, Kelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, Manasseh.
31 From the clan of Harim:
Eliezer, Ishijah, Malkijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
32 Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah.
33 From the clan of Hashum:
Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei.
34 From the clan of Bani:
Maadai, Amram, Uel,
35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Keluhi,
36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,
37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu.
38 From the clan of Binnui:
Shimei,
39 Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah,
40 Macnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
41 Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,
42 Shallum, Amariah, Joseph.
43 From the clan of Nebo:
Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, Benaiah.
44 All these men had married foreign women. They sent them away, together with their children.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.