Now these are the heads of their fathers' [houses], and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:
2
Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush.
3
Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males a hundred and fifty.
4
Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah; and with him two hundred males.
5
Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel; and with him three hundred males.
6
And of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan; and with him fifty males.
7
And of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah; and with him seventy males.
8
And of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael; and with him fourscore males.
9
Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel; and with him two hundred and eighteen males.
10
And of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah; and with him a hundred and threescore males.
11
And of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai; and with him twenty and eight males.
12
And of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him a hundred and ten males.
13
And of the sons of Adonikam, [that were] the last; and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them threescore males.
14
And of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy males.
15
And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there we encamped three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.
16
Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, who were teachers.
17
And I sent them forth unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, [and] his brethren the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God.
18
And according to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;
19
and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty;
20
and of the Nethinim, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim: all of them were mentioned by name.
21
Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.
22
For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.
23
So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was entreated of us.
24
Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them,
25
and weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his princes, and all Israel there present, had offered:
26
I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels a hundred talents; of gold a hundred talents;
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and twenty bowls of gold, of a thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold.
28
And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto Jehovah, and the vessels are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill-offering unto Jehovah, the God of your fathers.
29
Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers' [houses] of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Jehovah.
30
So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.
31
Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth [day] of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the lier-in-wait by the way.
32
And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days.
33
And on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into 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 Levite;
34
the whole by number and by weight: and all the weight was written at that time.
35
The children of the captivity, that were come out of exile, offered burnt-offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin-offering: all this was a burnt-offering unto Jehovah.
36
And they delivered the king's commissions unto the king's satraps, and to the governors beyond the River: and they furthered the people and the house of God.
1 [To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.] We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4 Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;
19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake.
