以斯拉記 第 8 章

And these are the rulers of their fathers' houses, the leaders going up with me in the reign of Arthasastha the king of Babylon:

of the sons of Phinees, Gersom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Atous;

of the sons of Sachania; of the sons of Phoros, Zacharias, and with him the company, a hundred and fifty;

of the sons of Phaathmoab, Eliana son of Zaraia, and with him two hundred males;

of the sons of Zathoes, Sechenias son of Aziel, and with him three hundred males;

and of the sons of Adin, Obeth son of Ionathan, and with him fifty males;

and of the sons of Elam, Iesia son of Athelia, and with him seventy males;

and of the sons of Saphatia, Zabdia son of Michael, and with him eighty males;

and of the sons of Ioab, Abadia son of Iiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males;

and of the sons of Baani, Salimouth son of Iosephia, and with him a hundred and sixty males;

and of the sons of Babi, Zacharia son of Babi, and with him seventy-eight males;

and of the sons of Asgad, Ioanan son of Akatan, and with him a hundred and ten males;

and of the sons of Adonikam, the last ones; and these are their names: Aliphalat, Iiel and Samaia, and with them sixty males;

and of the sons of Bago, Outhi, and with him seventy males.

And I gathered them to the river that comes to Eui, and we encamped there three days. And I took note among the people and among the priests, and of the sons of Levi I found none there.

And I sent to Eleazar, to Ariel, to Samaia, and to Alonam, and to Iarib, and to Elnathan, and to Nathan, and to Zacharia, and to Mesoulam, men; and to Ioarib and to Elnathan, men of understanding.

And I brought them out to the ruler, at the silver of the place; and I put words in their mouth to speak to their brothers the nathinim at the silver of the place, that they should bring us singers for the house of our God.

And they came to us, as the good hand of our God was upon us, a man, Sachol, of the sons of Mooli son of Levi son of Israel; and at the beginning came his sons and his brothers, eighteen;

and Asebia, and Osaias of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty;

and of the nathinim whom David and the rulers gave for the service of the Levites, nathinim two hundred and twenty; all of them were gathered by names.

And I proclaimed a fast there at the river Aoue, to humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us and for our children and for all our possessions.

For I was ashamed to ask of the king a force and horsemen to save us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king: The hand of our God is upon all who seek him, for good; and his power and his wrath are upon all who forsake him.

So we fasted and sought from our God concerning this, and he hearkened to us.

And I set apart twelve of the rulers of the priests, for Saraia, Asabia, and with them ten of their brothers;

and I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels of the firstfruits of the house of our God, which the king and his counsellors and his rulers and all Israel who were found there had lifted up as an offering.

And I weighed into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and a hundred silver vessels, and a hundred talents of gold;

and kaphoure of gold, twenty, for the journey; chamanim, a thousand; and vessels of good shining bronze, choice, as desirable as gold.

And I said to them: You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are freewill offerings to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

Be watchful and keep them until you stand before the rulers of the priests and the Levites and the rulers of the fathers' houses in Jerusalem, in the tents of the house of the Lord.

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

And we set out from the river Aoue on the twelfth of the first month, to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the foe on the way.

And we came to Jerusalem and remained there three days.

And it came to pass on the fourth day that we weighed the silver and the gold and the vessels in the house of our God into the hand of Merimoth son of Ouria the priest; and with him was Eleazar son of Phinees; and with them were Iozabad son of Jesus and Noadia son of Banaia, the Levites.

All of it was by number and by weight; and the whole weight was written down at that time.

Those who had come from the captivity, the sons of the sojourning, offered whole burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve calves on behalf of all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he-goats for sin; all of it whole burnt offerings to the Lord.

And they gave the king's ordinance to the king's stewards and to the prefects beyond the River; and they glorified the people and the house of God.