The companions of Esdras. The fast which he appointed. They bring the
holy vessels into the temple.
8:1. Now these are the chief of families, and the genealogy of them, who
came up with me from Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.
8:2. Of the sons of Phinees, Gersom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of
the sons of David, Hattus.
8:3. Of the sons of Sechenias, the son of Pharos, Zacharias, and with
him were numbered a hundred and fifty men.
8:4. Of the sons of Phahath Moab, Eleoenai the son of Zareha, and with
him two hundred men.
8:5. Of the sons of Sechenias, the son of Ezechiel, and with him three
hundred men.
8:6. Of the sons of Adan, Abed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty
men.
8:7. Of the sons of Alam, Isaias the son of Athalias, and with him
seventy men.
8:8. Of the sons of Saphatia: Zebodia the son of Michael, and with him
eighty men.
8:9. Of the sons of Joab, Obedia the son of Jahiel, and with him two
hundred and eighteen men.
8:10. Of the sons of Selomith, the son of Josphia, and with him a
hundred and sixty men.
8:11. Of the sons of Bebai, Zacharias the son of Bebai: and with him
eight and twenty men.
8:12. Of the sons of Azgad, Joanan the son of Eccetan, and with him a
hundred and ten men.
8:13. Of the sons of Adonicam, who were the last: and these are their
names: Eliphelet, and Jehiel, and Samaias, and with them sixty men.
8:14. Of the sons of Begui, Uthai and Zachur, and with them seventy men.
8:15. And I gathered them together to the river, which runneth down to
Ahava, and we stayed there three days: and I sought among the people and
among the priests for the sons of Levi, and found none there.
8:16. So I sent Eliezer, and Ariel, and Semeias, and Elnathan, and
Jarib, and another Elnathan, and Nathan, and Zacharias, and Mosollam,
chief men: and Joiarib, and Elnathan, wise men.
8:17. And I sent them to Eddo, who is chief in the place of Chasphia,
and I put in their mouth the words that they should speak to Eddo, and
his brethren the Nathinites in the place of Chasphia, that they should
bring us ministers of the house of our God.
8:18. And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a most
learned man of the sons of Moholi the son of Levi the son of Israel, and
Sarabias and his sons, and his brethren eighteen,
8:19. And Hasabias, and with him Isaias of the sons of Merari, and his
brethren, and his sons twenty.
8:20. And of the Nathinites, whom David, and the princes gave for the
service of the Levites, Nathinites two hundred and twenty: all these
were called by their names.
8:21. And I proclaimed there a fast by the river Ahava, that we might
afflict ourselves before the Lord our God, and might ask of him a right
way for us and for our children, and for all our substance.
And I proclaimed a fast... It is not enough to part from Babylon, that
is, figuratively from sin, but we must also do works of penance; and
therefore Esdras here proclaimed an extraordinary fast to those that
were come from captivity. This shews that fasting was commanded and
practised from the earliest times.
8:22. For I was ashamed to ask the king for aid and for horsemen, to
defend us from the enemy in the way: because we had said to the king:
The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him in goodness: and his
power and strength, and wrath upon all them that forsake him.
8:23. And we fasted, and besought our God for this: and it fell out
prosperously unto us.
8:24. And I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sarabias, and
Hasabias, and with them ten of their brethren,
8:25. And I weighed unto them the silver and gold, and the vessels
consecrated for the house of our God, which the king and his
counsellors, and his princes, and all Israel, that were found had
offered.
8:26. And I weighed to their hands six hundred and fifty talents of
silver, and a hundred vessels of silver, and a hundred talents of gold,
8:27. And twenty cups of gold, of a thousand solids, and two vessels of
the best shining brass, beautiful as gold.
8:28. And I said to them: You are the holy ones of the Lord, and the
vessels are holy, and the silver and gold, that is freely offered to the
Lord the God of our fathers.
8:29. Watch ye and keep them, till you deliver them by weight before the
chief of the priests, and of the Levites, and the heads of the families
of Israel in Jerusalem, into the treasure of the house of the Lord.
8:30. And the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver
and gold, and the vessels, to carry them to Jerusalem to the house of
our God.
8:31. Then we set forward from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the
first month to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and
delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by
the way.
8:32. And we came to Jerusalem, and we stayed there three days.
8:33. And on the fourth day the silver and the gold, and the vessels
were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of
Urias the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinees, and with
them Jozabad the son of Josue, and Noadaia the son of Benoi, Levites.
8:34. According to the number and weight of everything: and all the
weight was written at that time.
8:35. Moreover the children of them that had been carried away that were
come out of the captivity, offered holocausts to the God of Israel,
twelve calves for all the people of Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-
seven lambs, and twelve he-goats for sin: all for a holocaust to the
Lord.
8:36. And they gave the king's edicts to the lords that were from the
king's court, and the governors beyond the river, and they furthered the
people and the house of God.