1 These are the heads of their fathers' houses and the genealogical record of those who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:
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 a hundred and fifty men enrolled by genealogy;
4 of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred men;
5 of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred men;
6 of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty men;
7 of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy men;
8 of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him eighty men;
9 of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen men;
10 of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah, and with him a hundred and sixty men;
11 of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight men;
12 of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him a hundred and ten men;
13 of the sons of Adonikam, the last ones, whose names are these: Eliphelet, Jeiel and Shemaiah, and with them sixty men;
14 of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them seventy men.
15 I assembled them at the river that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there for three days. When I looked over the people and the priests, I found no Levites there.
16 So I summoned Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders, and Joiarib and Elnathan, who were teachers,
17 and sent them to Iddo, the leader at the place called Casiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, the temple servants at Casiphia, so that they would bring us attendants for the house of our God.
18 Because the good hand of our God was on us, they brought us a man of insight from the sons of Mahli son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen men;
19 and Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah from the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, twenty men;
20 and from the temple servants, whom David and the officials had assigned to help the Levites, two hundred and twenty temple servants, all of them listed by name.
21 There by the river Ahava I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.
22 I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to guard us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, "The hand of our God is on everyone who seeks him, for good, but his power and his anger are against all who abandon him."
23 So we fasted and asked our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
24 Then I selected twelve of the leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers,
25 and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, the contribution for the house of our God given by the king, his advisers, his officials, and all Israel who were there.
26 Into their hands I weighed out six hundred and fifty talents of silver, silver vessels weighing a hundred talents, a hundred talents of gold,
27 twenty gold bowls worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine shining bronze, as valuable as gold.
28 I told them, "You are holy to the LORD, and so are the vessels. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD God of your fathers.
29 Watch over them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem before the leading priests, the Levites, and the heads of Israel's fathers' houses."
30 So the priests and Levites received the silver, gold, and vessels that had been weighed out, to take them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.
31 On the twelfth day of the first month we left the river Ahava to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and from those lying in wait along the road.
32 We arrived in Jerusalem and rested there three days.
33 On the fourth day, in the house of our God, the silver, gold, and vessels were weighed out into the hands of Meremoth son of Uriah the priest. With him were Eleazar son of Phinehas and the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.
34 Everything was checked by number and by weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.
35 Then the exiles who had returned from captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and, as a sin offering, twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.
36 They also delivered the king's orders to the royal satraps and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, who then gave their support to the people and to the house of God.