From the Greek Septuagint text as was used by First Century Christians.
Written by the Jewish Scribe and Priest Ezra.
It covers the period from the return of the Jews to JeruSalem in the first year
of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia somewhere around
559-BCE, to the reestablishment and cleansing of the Priesthood (somewhere
around 455-BCE).
Chapter 1
1 In the first year
of King Cyrus of Persia,
the Word of Jehovah came through the mouth of [the
Prophet] JeremiAh to awaken the spirit of King Cyrus.
2 So, [Cyrus] sent a written proclamation throughout his
kingdom that said,
‘This is what Cyrus the king of Persia has decreed:
All
the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by
Jehovah, the God of the heavens, and He told me to build a Temple to Him in JeruSalem of Judah.
3 So, who of you are His people? His God
Jehovah is now with him!
Therefore, let him [return to JeruSalem] and build a
Temple for the God of IsraEl who is The God in JeruSalem.
4 Therefore, all the Judeans should leave
the places where they’ve been staying and take up a collection of silver and
gold, as well as of things from among their belongings and their cattle, [to
rebuild] the Temple of God in JeruSalem.’
5 And thereafter, the family heads of Judah and BenJamin, as well as the Priests and Levites – everyone whose spirit God had awakened to go and build a Temple of Jehovah in JeruSalem – got up and left, 6 [carrying along] silver, gold, cattle, and gifts, in addition to their own offerings and personal belongings.
7 King Cyrus
also brought out the things [that had been taken] from the Temple of Jehovah,
which NebuChadNezzar had removed from JeruSalem and put into the temple of his
god, 8 and [Cyrus] sent them by
the hand of his Royal Treasurer MithraDates,
who counted everything and gave it all to SasaBasar, the [man that had been
appointed as] the ruler of Judah.
9
This is what he sent:
· Thirty wine-chillers of gold
· Thirty wine-chillers of silver
· Twenty-nine sacrificial knives
· Thirty gold washbasins
· Four-hundred-and-ten double-silver items
· A thousand other items, plus five thousand, four hundred smaller things of silver
and gold.
SasaBasar had it all carried from Babylon to JeruSalem during the resettlement.
Chapter 2
1 These are
the ones that returned from Babylon to resettle Judah and JeruSalem [whose
families] had been relocated by NebuChadNezzar (the king of Babylon)… each
person returned to his own city.
2
Those that returned with ZerubBabel
were JoShua, NehemiAh, SeraiJah, ReElaiJah, MardecAi, BilShan, MizPar, BigVai,
Rehum, and BaAna.
In numbers, the people of IsraEl included:
3 Two thousand, one
hundred-and-seventy-two from Parosh;
4 Three-hundred-and-seventy-two
from ShephatiJah;
5
Seven-hundred-and-seventy-five from Arah;
6 Two thousand,
eight-hundred-and-twelve from Pahath Moab (descendants of JoShua and JoAb);
7 A thousand,
two-hundred-and-fifty-four from Elam;
8 Nine-hundred-and-forty-five
from ZatTu;
9 Seven-hundred-and-sixty from
ZacKai;
10 Six-hundred-and-forty-two
from Bani;
11 Six-hundred-and-twenty-three
from BaeAi;
12 A thousand, two
hundred-and-twenty from AzGad;
13 Six-hundred-and-sixty-six
from AdoniKam;
14 Two thousand, fifty-six from
BigVai;
15 Four-hundred-and-fifty-four
from Adin;
16 Ninety-eight from Ater
(descendants of HezekiAh);
17 Three-hundred-and-twenty-three
from BezAi;
18 A hundred-and-twelve from
JoRah;
19 Two-hundred-and-twenty-three
from Hashum;
20 Ninety-five from GibBar;
21 A hundred-and-twenty-three
from BethLehem;
22 Fifty-six from NetoPhah;
23 A hundred-and-twenty-eight
from AnathOth;
24 Forty-three from AzMaveth;
25
Seven-hundred-and-forty-three from KiriAth Jairim, ChaPhira, and BeerOth;
26 Six-hundred-and-twenty-one
from Rama and GabaA;
27 A hundred-and-twenty-two men
of MichMash;
28 Two-hundred-and-twenty-three
men of BethEl;
29 Fifty-two from Nebo;
30 A hundred-and-fifty-six from
MagBish;
31 A thousand,
two-hundred-and-fifty-four from Elam;
32 Three-hundred-and-twenty
from Harim;
33
Seven-hundred-and-twenty-five from Lod, Hadid, and Ono;
34 Three hundred-and-forty-five
from JeriCho;
35 Three thousand,
six-hundred-and-thirty from SenaAh;
36
Nine-hundred-and-seventy-three Priests of the house of JoShua from JedaiJah;
37 A thousand, fifty-two from
ImMer;
38 A thousand,
two-hundred-and-forty-seven from PashUr;
39 A thousand and seven from
Harim.
40 There
were also the following:
Seventy-four Levites that were descendants of JoShua and KadmiEl from HoDaviJah;
41 A hundred-and-twenty-eight
singers from the family of Asaph;
42 A hundred-and-thirty-nine
gatekeepers from ShalLum, Ater, TelMon, AkKub, HatiTa, and ShobAi.
43 The Nethinim from SiHa,
HaSupha, TabaOth, 44 Keros,
SiaHa, Padon, 45 LebanAh,
HagAbah, AkKub, 46 HagAb,
ShalmAi, Hanan, 47 GidDel,
Gahar, ReaJah and 48 Rezin, and
twelve from NekoDa and GazZam. 49
As well as from UzZa, PaseAh, BesAi, 50
AsNah, Mehunim, Nephousim, 51
BakBuk, HakUpha, HarHur, 52
BazLuth, MehiDa, HarSha, 53
Barkos, Sisera, ThamAh, 54
NeziJah, HatiPha; 55 and
descendants of the servants of Solomon from SotAi.
From SopherEth, there were, Peruda 56
of JaAlah, DarKon, GidDel, 57
ShephatiJah, HatTil, PocherEth, Zebaim, and Ami.
58 Altogether, there were three-hundred-and-ninety-two Nethinim and descendants of the servants of Solomon.
59 Those that came from TelMelah, TelHarsa, Cherub, AdDan, and ImMer were unable to report on their houses and children, because [it was questionable] whether they were actually IsraElites.
60 In addition, there were six-hundred-and-fifty-two from TobiJah and NekoDa.
61 Though
the records of the priests from HabaiJah, Koz, and BarZilLai who married women
from BarZilLai (in Gilead) had once existed, 62
they couldn’t be found when they went looking for their genealogy, so they were
suspended from the priesthood.
63
AtherSastha told them this:
‘You may not eat from the
Holy of Holies until a Priest returns [with] the Lights and Perfections (Urim
and Thumim?) to [tell us what we should do].
64
Altogether, there were forty-two thousand three-hundred-and-sixty that returned,
65 plus seven thousand
three-hundred-and-thirty-seven male and female servants and two hundred male
and female singers.
66 They
brought back seven-hundred-and-thirty-six horses, two-hundred-and-forty-five
mules, 67
four-hundred-and-thirty-five camels, and six thousand seven-hundred-and-twenty
burros.
68 The
family heads who went to the Temple of Jehovah in
JeruSalem that were willing and able to contribute to its reconstruction, 69 contributed sixty-one thousand gold coins
and five thousand silver coins, plus a hundred outfits for the Priests, which
was all then put into the treasury.
70
However, the Priests, Levites, [dedicated] people, singers, gatekeepers, and
Nethinim went and lived in their own cities, as did all the rest of IsraEl.
Chapter 3
1 Well, by
the seventh month, all the sons of IsraEl had returned and were settled in
their cities;
And thereafter, all the people gathered in JeruSalem as one man, 2 and JoShua
(the son of JoZadak), his brothers the Priests, and ZerubBabel (the son of
ShealtiEl) and his brothers all got up and built an Altar to the God of IsraEl
upon which they could offer whole burnt offerings, as it was written in the Law
of Moses, the man of God.
3
They prepared the Altar in a [hidden] place, because they were afraid of the
people in the land.
However, they kept bringing the whole burnt offerings to Jehovah from morning until evening.
4
Thereafter, they celebrated the Holiday of Temporary Dwellings, following the
written instructions, and they offered whole burnt offerings each day for the
number of days that they understood were required.
5 And from then on, they continued to sacrifice whole burnt
offerings on the New Moons and on all the holy celebrations of Jehovah, in
addition to the free-will offerings that they brought to the Lord.
6 It was on
the first day of the seventh month that they started sacrificing the whole
burnt offerings to Jehovah, but the foundation for His Temple
hadn’t been laid yet.
7 So, they
then hired quarry workers and laborers, and they offered food, drink, and olive
oil to the Sidonians and the people of Tyre to get them to transport cedar
boards from Lebanon across the sea to JopPa, as it had been decreed by Cyrus, the king of
Persia.
8 Then when
they assembled at the Temple of Jehovah God in JeruSalem, which was in the
second year and the second month, ZerubBabel (the son of
ShealtiEl), JoShua (the son of JoZadek), and the rest of their brothers among the
Priests and Levites (as well as everyone else that had left captivity and
returned to JeruSalem) assigned all the Levites that were twenty-years and older
to ensure the success of the ones that were doing the work on the Temple of
Jehovah.
9 So, JoShua and his
sons, as well as his brother KadmiEl and his sons (who were all Judeans) were
put in charge over those that were doing the work at the Temple of God, along
with the sons of HenAdad and their brothers the Levites.
10 Well,
when they started laying the foundation for the Temple of Jehovah, the Priests
donned their robes and got their trumpets, and the Levites (the descendants of
Asaph) picked up their cymbals to praise Jehovah with [the songs] of David, the
king of IsraEl.
11 Then, before
Jehovah, they praised and acknowledged that He is good and that His mercy would
remain upon IsraEl through the ages.
Meanwhile, all the people were shouting and praising Jehovah
together as the groundwork for the Temple of Jehovah was being prepared.
12 There was so much noise, because many
of the Priests, Levites, family heads, and elders that were standing there
watching the groundwork for the preparation of the Temple started weeping,
while many others were shouting in joy (which made the sounds even louder).
13 So, it soon became difficult to
distinguish the difference between the sounds of people shouting in joy and the
sounds of the weeping.
For the sounds of the cheering and weeping could be
heard for [miles].
Chapter 4
1 Well, when
the people that opposed Judah and BenJamin heard
that those who had returned were building a Temple
to Jehovah the God of IsraEl, 2 they approached ZerubBabel
and the family heads and said to them:
‘You should allow us to build the Temple
with you, so we can also ask [for things] from your God;
For we’ve been
offering sacrifices to Him since the time of EsarHaddon
the king of Assyria, who brought us here.’
3
But ZerubBabel, JoShua, and the rest of the family
heads of IsraEl replied:
‘It isn’t up to us to decide whether you can help us
to build a Temple to Jehovah the God of IsraEl, for we were told to do this by Cyrus, the king of Persia.’
4 But
thereafter, the people of the land did whatever they could to weaken the people
of Judah and to impede the construction project.
5 They even hired representatives against
them to go to Cyrus (the king of Persia) and to the kingdom of Darius (a [co-regent] of Persia) to get the
proclamation revoked.
6 Then, at
the beginning of the reign of AhaSuerus, they wrote a
letter against the people that were living in Judah and JeruSalem.
7 And in the days of ArthaSastha (probably
ArtaXerxes I);
MithraDates, TabeEl, and his fellow servants wrote to ArthaSastha (the king of
Persia) about them.
And because they wrote it in Syrian, [the king’s] tax
collector had to translate it for him.
8 It was
Lord Rehum that wrote the letter against JeruSalem to King
ArthaSastha through his scribe ShimShai,
which said:
9 ‘This is what our lord, Judge
Rehum, as well as the scribe ShimShai,
the rest of our fellow servants, the Dinaites, ApharSathchites, Tarpelites, Apharsites, Archevites,
Babylonians, Sousanchites, Dehavites,
Elamites, 10 and all the other
nations that were resettled in the cities of Samaria and across the river by the
great and esteemed Asnapper (AshurBanipal) have
to say’…
11 This is what they
wrote to King ArthaSastha:
‘From your servants on the other side of the river;
12 We wish to inform the king
that the Judeans whom you sent among us have come to JeruSalem (an apostate and wicked city), where they’ve raised a
foundation and they’re getting ready to rebuild its walls.
13 So, we want the king to know that if
the city should be rebuilt and its walls re-erected, they will stop paying
their tolls and taxes, and they’ll treat the king wickedly!
14 It’s because we don’t wish to see such
indecent treatment of the king that we’re sending [this letter], and we want to
let the king know what is really happening.
15 ‘If you
will examine the records of your ancestors, you will see that [JeruSalem] is an
apostate city that treats their kings badly, and that they’ve been escaping and
rebelling through the ages…
This is why their city
was destroyed!
16 Therefore, we
are informing the king that the city should not be rebuilt and that they should
not be preparing its walls.
17 ‘From us on
the other side of the river, to the king.
From Lord Rehum, ShimShai the scribe,
and from the rest of their fellow servants that live in Samaria and across the
river.
We wish you Peace.’
18 [Then the
king replied]:
‘I just called the tax collector before me whom you sent, 19 and as the result, I’ve issued a
decree.
For after examining [the records], this is what I found:
That city has for a fact rebelled against the kings through the ages, and all
sorts of uprisings and defections have happened there.
20 For they once had [their own] mighty
kings that ruled from JeruSalem all the way to the other side of the river, and
that used to collect their own taxes and tolls.
21 ‘So now,
[I have] passed a decree that those men should stop their work and that their city
must never be rebuilt again!
22
I appreciate the ways that you’ve followed my decrees, and for your concern
that the power of the king may never be lost to evil deeds.’
23 [Then
upon his return], King ArthaSastha’s tax collector
read [the letter] in the presence of Lord Rehum and the scribe ShimShai and
their fellow servants, and they quickly traveled to JeruSalem [and throughout]
Judah with their army and cavalry to force them to stop doing their work.
24 As the
result, construction on the Temple of God in JeruSalem came to a halt, and it
remained unfinished until the second year of the reign of Darius the king of
Persia.
Chapter 5
1 It was
then that the Prophets HagGai and ZechariAh (the son of IdDo) [each] spoke prophecies
about the Jews in Judah and JeruSalem in the Name of the God of IsraEl.
2 So, ZerubBabel (the son of ShealtiEl) and
JoShua (the son of JoZadek) got up and started rebuilding the Temple of God in
JeruSalem once again, along with the Prophets of God that came to help them.
3
Then TatNai (the vassal king on the other side of the river) and
ShetharBozNai and their fellow servants came to them
and asked:
‘By whose decree are you rebuilding this Temple…
Where did you get
the money, 4 and what are the
names of the men that have started rebuilding this city?’
5 Well, the
eyes of God had been watching over the captivity of Judah and He didn’t make
them stop working on the Temple during the time that a report was being carried
to Darius by his tax collector, and while they
were thereafter awaiting his reply.
6
This is what the letter that was sent to King Darius by TatNai (the vassal king
from the other side of the river), ShetharBozNai, and their fellow servants
(who were ApharSachaeans that lived on the other side of the river) said:
7 ‘To Darius the king;
May you have peace in everything.
8 Let it be known to the king
that we went into Judea to the Temple of the great God, and found it being
rebuilt with the best of stone and with timbers being inserted into the walls.
We also found that the workmanship was well done and proceeding very well under
them.
9 So, we asked the elders
there by whose decree this Temple was being rebuilt, who was providing the
money for the construction, 10
and what their names were, so we could send [this information] to you.
11 And this was their reply:
‘We are servants of the God of the lands and the skies,
and we’re rebuilding the Temple that was built here many years ago by a great
king of IsraEl, who prepared it for [His people].
12 But when our ancestors made the God of
of the heavens angry, He handed them over to NebuChadNezzar,
the Chaldean king of Babylon.
So, this Temple was
allowed to rest and the people were resettled in Babylon.
13 ‘However, in the first
year of Cyrus (the king [that conquered] the Babylonians), he issued a decree to
rebuild this Temple of God, 14
and to return the items of gold and silver to the Temple of God that
NebuChadNezzar had taken from the Temple in JeruSalem and carried to his own
temple in Babylon.
15
Then King Cyrus had these things taken from the temple in Babylon and he gave
them to SheshBazzar (his royal treasurer), telling him to go and return it all
to the Temple of God in JeruSalem, so that it could be rebuilt in the place
where it once stood.
16
So, SheshBazzar went to JeruSalem and laid the Temple
foundation… which has been under construction since that time, but it hasn’t
been finished yet.
17 ‘Now, if the king approves;
Please send someone to the treasury in the king’s temple in Babylon to see if
King Cyrus really did issue such a decree to rebuild the Temple of God in
JeruSalem.
And when the king finds out, may he send a reply to us.’
Chapter 6
1
Well, after examining the library at the treasury in Babylon, King Darius
thereafter issued a decree.
2
For in the city of AchMetha,
in the palace of the Medes, he found a scroll with a record that was written in
the first year of King Cyrus, where he rendered a decree concerning the Temple of God in JeruSalem.
3 It said,
‘Allow a Temple to be built
where they will offer sacrifices!
Let them set in place the foundations.
[The
building] must be a hundred feet high and a hundred
feet wide.
4 It should be made
with three layers of durable stones and a layer of durable timbers.
It is
decreed that the expense [of this construction] will be paid for by the palace
of the king.
Also, the items of gold and silver that were confiscated from the
Temple of God by NebuChadNezzar should be removed from his temple and returned
to the one in JeruSalem…
It should be taken from Babylon and transported to the
Holy Place in JeruSalem, the Temple of God.’
6 So [the
king] told King TatNai, ShetharBozNai, and his fellow servants (the
ApharSachites from the other side of the river) to leave that place and to
allow the work on the Temple of God [to be completed]…
7 [not to bother] the elders
and those that were directing the work of the Judeans, so they could rebuild
[the Temple] where it once was.
8
[He said]:
‘My decree through the elders of those Judeans is for them to build the Temple
of God using tax money from the [vassal] kings on the other side of the river.
The expenses must be carefully calculated and then paid to those men, so the
work doesn’t stop.
9 ‘Also,
where they are lacking enough male calves, rams, and lambs for their whole
burnt offerings to the God of heaven, or wheat, salt, wine, or olive oil…
whatever the Priests in JeruSalem need, must be given to them each day.
There
must be no arguing;
Whatever they ask for 10
should be provided, so a pleasant aroma may be offered to the God of heaven,
and so that prayers may be offered on behalf of the king and his sons.
11 ‘This
decree has come from me, and any man that challenges what I’ve said will have
his house demolished and its boards placed upright;
Thereafter, he will be
impaled on top of them, and everything in his house will be looted.
12 May the God that camps and puts His Name
there wipe out any people and their kings that raise a hand against, or change,
or hide the Temple of God in JeruSalem.
For I Darius have rendered this decree
after thoughtful consideration…
May it be so!’
13 Then
TatNai (the vassal king) from the other side of the river (as well as
ShetharBozNai and his fellow servants) did exactly as they were told, because of
what King Darius had decreed.
14 So,
the Judean elders kept on building… and they were blest, just as the Prophets
HagGai and ZechariAh (the son of IdDo) foretold.
They got everything ready and did
the rebuilding, following the instructions of the God of IsraEl by the decrees
of Cyrus, Darius, and ArthaSastha, the kings of the Persians.
15 Well, the
Temple was completed by the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of
the reign of King Darius.
16 So,
the sons of IsraEl, the Priests, the Levites, and all the rest that had returned
in the resettlement joyfully declared a holiday of rededication of the Temple
of God.
17 And this is what
they offered for the rededication:
A hundred calves, a hundred rams, two
hundred lambs, and four hundred winter-yearling goats as sin offerings for all
IsraEl, and they repeated this twelve times (for the number of the tribes of
IsraEl).
18 They also
reestablished the divisions of the Priests and they distributed the duties at
the Temple of God in JeruSalem among the Levites, just as it was written in the
book of Moses.
19
Thereafter, those that had returned went on to observe the Passover on the
fourteenth day of the first month.
20
For by then, all the Priests had been purified and all the Levites were clean.
So they slaughtered the Passover for those that had returned and for their
brothers the Priests.
21 Then,
all the sons of IsraEl (those that had returned and separated themselves from
the uncleanness of the gentiles so they could ask for things from Jehovah the
God of IsraEl) ate the Passover, 22
and they joyfully observed the holiday of Fermentation-free Bread for seven
days, because Jehovah had filled them with joy.
Thereafter, even the king of Assyria assisted them by providing [workers] for the Temple of the God of IsraEl.
Chapter 7
1 It was
during the reign of ArthaSastha the king of Persia (probably ArtaXerxes I),
that Ezra (the son of SeraiJah, the son of
AzariJah, the son of HilkiJah, 2
the son of ShalLum, the son of ZaDok, the son of AhiTob, 3 the son of AmariJah, the son of
AzariJah, the son of MeraiOth, 4
the son of ZerahiJah, the son of UzZi, the son of BukKi, 5 the son of AbiShua, the son of PhineHas,
the son EliEzer, the son of Aaron, the first Priest) returned from Babylon.
6 He was a scribe that was well-versed in
the Law that Jehovah the God of IsraEl had given to
Moses.
And because the hand of his God Jehovah was with him, the king gave him
everything that he requested.
7 Then the
sons of IsraEl, the Priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, 8 and the Nethinim returned to
JeruSalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the reign of King
ArthaSastha.
9 It was on the
first day of the first month that he arranged for their return from Babylon,
and it was on the first day of the fifth month that [Ezra] came to JeruSalem,
because the good hand of his God was upon him.
10 Now, Ezra had prepared his heart to search the Law of Jehovah and then to practice and teach all its regulations and decisions to IsraEl.
11 King
ArthaSastha also gave a copy of the following edict to the Priest Ezra (who was
the scribe of the scroll of the words of the Commandments of Jehovah), which
contained his orders concerning IsraEl.
[The decree said]:
12 ‘ArthaSastha
(the king of kings) to the Priest Ezra, the scribe of the Law of the God of
heaven;
13 May my reply to this matter
now be initiated, for I’ve sent a decree that tells all those in my kingdom
among the people of IsraEl, including their Priests and Levites who wish to
return to JeruSalem with you, that they may go there.
14 And here, before the king and his seven
advisors, I am sending you to oversee Judah and JeruSalem according to the Law
of your God.
15 You are to
carry all the silver and gold to the Temple of Jehovah that the king and his
counselors are willing to donate to the God of IsraEl that camps in JeruSalem, 16 as well as all the silver and gold that
you can find in Babylon, as an offering.
This is in addition to whatever your
people may wish to offer to the Temple of your God in JeruSalem.
17 ‘Now, for
everyone that is willing to go, you must (by this edict) arrange for them to
bring along calves, rams, lambs, sacrifices, and drink offerings for
presentation at the Altar of your God in JeruSalem.
18 Also, carry along anything that you and
your brothers see that you [will need] in addition to the silver and gold.
Do
whatever pleases your God!
19 ‘Carry
with you the items that were given to you for the services at the Temple of
God, and present them before your God in JeruSalem.
20 Also, carry along anything else that
you see will be needed for your God from the treasury in the king’s palace.
21
‘I, King ArthaSastha, have also sent a decree regarding the
treasuries that are on the other side of the river, that whatever Ezra the
Priest and scribe of the Law of the God of heaven asks of [those people] must
be readily obeyed.
22 They must
give you three-tons of silver, six hundred bushels
of wheat, six hundred gallons of wine, six hundred gallons of olive oil, and
salt (no amount was specified).
23
They must supply whatever the God of heaven has decreed for the Temple of the
God of heaven!
They must be very careful to do this, for any attempt against
the Temple of the God of heaven at any time will bring [my] rage upon the king
of that kingdom and upon his sons.
24 ‘And let
it be made known that in regard to all the Priests, Levites, singers,
gatekeepers, Nethinim, and officials at the Temple of God;
No one is authorized
to impose any sort of tax or toll upon them.
25 ‘As for
you, O Ezra;
Use the wisdom of God that has been placed in your hands to
appoint scribes, as well as judges who know the Laws of your God, so as to
judge all the people on the other side of the river and to teach them to anyone
that doesn’t already know them!
26
Then you must decide whether any person that doesn’t diligently obey the Laws of
God and the laws of the king must be killed, exiled, taught, fined, or locked
in prison.’
27 O praise Jehovah
the God of our ancestors who put it into the heart of the king to glorify the
Temple of Jehovah in JeruSalem this great way, 28 and for causing the eyes of the king, his advisors, and
his leading men to look so mercifully upon me.
[And praise] the good hand of my
God Jehovah that has strengthened me, so that I could gather all the leaders of
IsraEl and bring them back with me!
Chapter 8
1 Now, these are the heads of families and the genealogies of those that came with me from the kingdom of ArthaSastha, the king of Babylon:
2 From the
descendants of PhiNehas there was GerSom;
From the descendants of IthaMar there was DaniEl;
From the descendants of David there was HatTush;
3 From the descendants of
ShechaniJah and the sons of PharOsh there was ZechariAh, and with him were a
hundred-and-fifty that could trace their genealogies.
4 From the descendants of
PahathMoab there was EliHoEnai (the son of ZereHijah) and two hundred males
with him;
5 From the descendants of ShechaniJah
there was AziEl and three hundred males that came with him;
6 From the descendants of Adin
there was Ebed (the son of JoNathan) and fifty males that came with him;
7 From the descendants of Elam
there was IsaiJah (the son of Athaliah) and seventy males that came with him;
8 From the descendants of
ShephatiJah there was ZebadiJah (the son of MichaEl) and eighty males that came
with him;
9 From the descendants of JoAb
there was ObadiJah (the son of JehiEl) and two-hundred-and-eighteen males that
came with him;
10 From the descendants of
ShelomIth there was JoSephiJah and a-hundred-and-sixty males that came with
him;
11 From the descendants of
BebAi there was ZechariAh (the son of BebAi) and twenty-eight males that came
with him;
12 From the descendants of
AzGad there was JoHanan (the son of HacKatan) and a-hundred-and-ten males that
came with him;
13 From the descendants of
AdoniKam (the latter) there was EliPhelet, JeiEl, and ShemaiJah, and sixty
males that came with them;
14 From the descendants of
BigVai there was UthAi and ZaboUd, and seventy males that came with them.
15 I
gathered them by the river that flows past Evi,
where we camped for three days.
But then I noticed that there were no Priests
or Levites to be found among the people, 16
so I sent [a message] to EliEzer, AriEl, ShemaiJah, ElNathan, JaRib ElNatham,
Nathan, ZechariAh, and MeshulLam (who were their leaders), as well as to
JoiArib and ElNathan (their supervisors), 17
and told them to go see IdDo, the ruler of the area of CasiPhiJa.
I told them
to tell IdDo and their brothers the Nethinim (who were the treasurers of
CasiPhiJa) to send us officials and singers for the Temple
of our God.
18 And because the
hand of our God was good to us, a very wise man from among the sons of MahLi (a
descendant of Levi, the son of IsraEl) was sent to us, along with SherEbiJah and
his sons and family (eighteen people).
19
Also, HashAbiJah and JeShaiJah from the family line of MeraRi and their
families and sons (some twenty people) came with them.
20 And from the Nethinim whom David had
appointed to be in charge of the services for the Levites, there were
two-hundred-and-twenty more that were all [chosen by] name.
21 Then I called for a fast there at the Ahava River to humble ourselves before our God and to ask Him to straighten the way for ourselves, our children, and our possessions, 22 because I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and cavalry to protect us from our enemies along the way, since I had told the king that the hand of our God would be with all those that search for good things from Him, and that His might and rage would come upon all those that abandon Him.
23 So, we
fasted and [put our trust] in our God about this matter, and He listened to us.
24 Then I selected twelve of
the leaders from among the Priests and ten from among the brothers of
SherEbiJah and HashAbiJa, 25
and I assigned them [to watch over] the silver, gold, and the items of the first-fruits
that were dedicated to the Temple of our God by the king, his counselors, his
governors, and by all the people of IsraEl.
26
I handed over to their charge some twenty-five tons of
silver, four-tons of items made of silver, three-tons of gold, 27 and a thousand gold bowls weighing
twenty pounds each, plus many items of shiny high-quality brass that was as
good as gold.
28 And I said to
them:
‘Now, you are holy to Jehovah God, and these
items of silver and gold are also holy, for they are voluntary offerings to
Jehovah the God of our ancestors.
29
So, stay alert and watch over these things until we can hand them over to the
Chief Priests, the Levites, and the heads of the families in JeruSalem for the
place of worship in the Temple of Jehovah!’
30
Therefore, the Priests and Levites weighed all the silver, gold, and other
items before they were to carry them to JeruSalem and to the Temple of our God.
31 Then we got up and left the Ahava River on the twelfth day of
the first month, as we started our journey toward JeruSalem, and the hand of
our God was upon us, for He protected us from our enemies and everyone else
along the way.
32 Well,
when we finally arrived in JeruSalem, we [rested up] for three days.
33 Then on the fourth day, we took all the
silver, gold, and other items for the Temple of our God, and handed it over to
MeremOth (the son of UriJah) the High Priest, EliEzer (the son of PhiNehas),
JoZabad (the son of JoShua), and NoAdiJah (the son of BinNai the Levite), 34 who weighed and recorded everything
once again.
35 Then all
those that had traveled with us in our return from captivity brought whole burnt
offerings to the God of IsraEl, which consisted of twelve calves (one for each
of the tribes of IsraEl), ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve
winter-yearling goats for the sin offering.
It was all to be sacrificed as
whole burnt offerings to Jehovah.
36
And thereafter (following the mandate that was given by the king and his
administrators), the vassal kings on the other side of the river [provided the
rest of the things that] the people needed for the Temple of God.
Chapter 9
1 Well after
that, the leaders came to me and pointed out that we had not yet separated the
people of IsraEl (or even the Priests and Levites) from the peoples of the land
and the disgusting things of the CanaAnites, Hittites, Pherezites, Jebusites,
Ammonites, Moabites, Moserites, and Amorites.
2
For [many] had taken these people’s daughters [as wives] for themselves and
for their sons.
So, the seed of what is holy had become mixed with the peoples
of the land… and even the governors and generals had become involved in this
breach-of-contract.
3 Well when
I heard about this, I ripped my clothes and underwear, and I was so furious
that I ripped hair from my head and beard;
Then I had to sit down to calm
myself.
4 And all those that had
gathered around me started trembling because of what the God of IsraEl had said
about a breach-of-contract in the resettlement [of our people].
So I just sat there calming myself until [it came time for]
the evening sacrifice.
5 Then I
got up and I felt ashamed over ripping my clothes and underwear.
So, I fell to my knees and spread my arms toward my God Jehovah, 6
and I said:
‘Lord, I’m so ashamed… I’m too ashamed to stand up and face You, O
my God, because we’re in over our heads with lawbreaking, and our errors are so
bad that they have reached into the heavens!
7
For from the time of our ancestors down to this day, we’ve been guilty of
great sins.
And it’s because of our lawbreaking that our kings, our Priests,
and [our people] were handed over to the kings of the nations to be killed with
swords and carried off into captivity…
Yes we were
seized, and our faces have been shamed to this day.
8 ‘Now, O
Jehovah our God;
You’ve been patient with us and You’ve allowed us to return
[to our land] so that we could be taught to rely on Your Holy Place, to open
our eyes, and to put a little life into our service [to You].
9 And because we are Your servants and we
haven’t abandoned our service to our God, the kings of Persia have been
merciful to us and given life to us, so that we could return to our deserted
[homes] and rebuild the Temple of our God, and to
fence Judah and JeruSalem off [from the surrounding nations].
10 ‘So, what
can we say to our God after this?
For we’ve abandoned the Commandments 11 that You gave to us through the hands
of Your servants the Prophets when You said,
The
land that you’re returning to as its heirs is a land in motion;
For the people
that once inhabited that land have been removed from it because of the
disgusting things and the filth that spilled from their mouths.
12 Therefore, you must not give your
daughters to them or take their daughters for your sons… nor should you expect
peace with them through the ages!
So now, to grow stronger,
you must eat the good [produce] from this land, which you will share with your
sons through the ages!’
13 ‘Then
after all of these things that happened to us because of our own wickedness and
great errors, and after You (our God) [forgave] us for our lawless actions and
delivered us, 14 we still
turned around and disregarded Your commandments by creating alliances with the
people of these lands through marriages.
But, please don’t become angry with us
and destroy us, so that none of us remain!
15 ‘O
Jehovah, the God of IsraEl;
You are righteous, for you’ve preserved us down to
this day.
And look;
Here we stand before You in our errors… and we know that no
one can stand before You in such a condition.’
Chapter 10
1 Then Ezra
prayed, confessed, and cried as he fell [to his face] before the Temple of The God, along with a vast gathering of men, women, and young people from IsraEl that
joined him, weeping bitterly.
2
Then one of them (ShechaniJah
the son of JehiEl, a descendant of Elam) said to
Ezra:
‘We’ have broken our contract with our God by [taking] women from among the
people of this land.
So because of this, there’s no hope of IsraEl ever having
a contract with our God.
3 But,
what if we agree before our God to [send away] all the women and all those that
were born to us, so that we can then start following the counsel of Jehovah, and so that those of us that are trembling before
our God today can start following His commandments?
If [He will accept this],
we can make it happen!
4 So,
you must now arise [and be strong], because this matter also affects you!
Since
we’re all with you, you must have the strength to do whatever must be done!’
5 Well at
that, Ezra stood up and he made the leaders, Priests, Levites, and all IsraEl
swear to do the thing that [ShechaniJah] had proposed.
6 And thereafter, he left from that place
in front of the Temple of God, and he went to the treasury of JoHanan (the son
of EliAshib) and he started living there.
But he refused to eat any food or
drink any water as he mourned over the breach-of-contract by those that had
returned to resettle [the land].
7 Well, this
was soon reported throughout Judah, JeruSalem, and wherever the people had
resettled, and everyone was then called to assemble in JeruSalem.
8 In fact, the governors and elders [had
decreed] that all those that didn’t come in [the next] three days would have
everything they owned destroyed, and they would be cut off from the gathering
of those that had returned in the resettlement.
9 So, all the men of Judah and BenJamin gathered in
JeruSalem over the next three days.
It was in the ninth month and on the twentieth day of the
month that all the people had finally arrived.
Then they sat down in the square
before the Temple of God… and they were all shaking, because of the seriousness
of this matter.
10 Then Ezra
(the Priest) stood up and said to them:
‘You have added to the sins of IsraEl
and broken our contract [with God] by settling here with foreign women.
11 Now, praise Jehovah the God of our
ancestors and do whatever is pleasing before Him… separate yourselves from the
people of this land and from your foreign women!’
12 Then the
entire assembly shouted loudly:
‘We will do just as you said!’
13 Well, the
crowd was huge; and because it was winter, they couldn’t just throw the people
[out of their homes].
So, the job couldn’t be done in just a day or two, for
that would have made all the wrongs even worse.
14 [Therefore, it was agreed that] the governors would call
an assembly in each of the cities, and that all who had taken foreign women
were to come there at a prearranged time to meet with the city elders and judges,
so that God’s anger and rage over this matter could be removed from them.
15 Now, with
the help of JoNathan (the son AsahEl) and JahaziJah (the son of TikVah) and
their assistants MeshulLam and the Levite ShabBethAi, everyone that had returned
in the resettlement did as they were told.
16
So the Priest Ezra and each of the heads of the family lines started their
inquiry on the first day of the tenth month, 17
and the process of questioning all the men that had settled in with foreign
women lasted until the first day of the first month.
18 As the
result, it was found that among the Priests;
Those that had taken foreign women
were the sons of JoShua (the son of JoZadek) and those of his brothers
MaAseiJah, EliEzer, JaRib, and GedaliJah.
19
So they each gave their hand in a pledge to bring in their women, along with a
sin offering of a ram from among their sheep, to cover their errors.
20 From
among the sons of ImMer there was HanaNi and ZebadiJah.
21 From the sons of Harim there
was MaAseiJah, EliJah, ShemaiJah, JehiEl, and UzZiJah.
22 From the sons of Phasur
there was EliWenai, MaAseiJah, IshMaEl, NathaniEl, JoZabad, and ElAsah.
23 Among the Levites, there was
JoZabad, Shemei, KelaiJah (also known as Kelita), PethAhiJah, Judah, and
EliEzer.
24 Among the singers, there was
EliAshib.
And from among the gatekeepers, there was ShalLum, TelEm, and Uri.
25 From IsraEl there were the
sons of Parosh; RamiJah, JeziJah, MalchiJah, MiAmin, EliEzer, MalchiJah, and
BenaiJah.
26 From the sons of ElAm there was
MattaniJah, ZechariAh, JehiEl, Abdi, JeremOth, and EliJah.
27 From the sons of ZatTu there
was EliWenai, EliAshib, MatTaniJah, JeremOth, Zabad, and AziZa.
28 From the sons of BebAi there
was JehoHanan, HaNaniJah, ZabBai, and AthLai.
29 From the sons of Bani there
was MeshulLam, MalLuch, AdaiJah, JaShub, SheAl, and RamOth.
30 From the sons of PahathMoab
there was Adna, ChelAl, BenaiJah, MaAseiJah,
MatthaniJah, BezaleEl, BinNui, and ManasSeh.
31 From the sons of Harim there
was EliEzer, IshiJah, MalchiJah, ShemaiJah, and ShimeOn.
32 From BenJamin there was
MalLuch and ShemariJah.
33 From the sons of Hashum
there was MatTenai, MatTathAh, Zabad, EliPhelet, JeremAi, ManasSeh, and Shimei.
34 From the sons of Bani were
MaAdai, AmRam, Wel, 35
BenaiJah, BedeiJah, ChelLah, 36
VaniJah, MeremOth, EliAshib, 37
MattaniJah, and MattenAi.
38 There were also the sons of
Bani: Shimei, 39 ShelemiJah,
Nathan, AdaiJah, 40
MachNadebAi, SharAi, ShashAi, 41
AzareEl, ShelemiJah, ShemariJah, 42
ShalLum, AmariJah, and JoSeph.
43 From the sons of Nebo there
was JeiEl, MatithiJah, Zabad, Zebina, JaDau, JoEl, and BenaiJah.
44 They had all taken foreign women for themselves that had each given birth to sons.