Ezra 8:1–20

The People Who Returned from Exile

8This is the list of the heads of the clans who had been in exile in Babylonia and who returned with Ezra to Jerusalem when Artaxerxes was emperor:

²Gershom, of the clan of Phinehas;

Daniel, of the clan of Ithamar;

³Hattush son of Shecaniah, of the clan of David;

Zechariah, of the clan of Parosh, with 150 men of his clan (there were records of their ancestry);

⁴Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, of the clan of Pahath Moab, with 200 men;

⁵Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, of the clan of Zattu,ⁿ with 300 men;

⁶Ebed son of Jonathan, of the clan of Adin, with 50 men;

⁷Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, of the clan of Elam, with 70 men;

⁸Zebadiah son of Michael, of the clan of Shephatiah, with 80 men;

⁹Obadiah son of Jehiel, of the clan of Joab, with 218 men;

¹⁰Shelomith son of Josiphiah, of the clan of Bani,^o with 160 men;

¹¹Zechariah son of Bebai, of the clan of Bebai, with 28 men;

¹²Johanan son of Hakkatan, of the clan of Azgad, with 110 men;

¹³Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, of the clan of Adonikam, with 60 men (they returned at a later date);

¹⁴Uthai and Zaccur, of the clan of Bigvai, with 70 men.

Ezra Finds Levites for the Temple

¹⁵I assembled the entire group by the canal that runs to the town of Ahava, and we camped there three days. I found that there were priests in the group, but no Levites. ¹⁶I sent for nine of the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, and for two teachers, Joiarib and Elnathan. ¹⁷I sent them to Iddo, head of the community at Casiphia, to ask him and his associates, the temple workmen, to send us people to serve God in the Temple. ¹⁸Through God’s grace they sent us Sherebiah, an able man, a Levite from the clan of Mahli, and eighteen of his sons and brothers came with him. ¹⁹They also sent Hashabiah and Jeshaiah of the clan of Merari, with twenty of their relatives. ²⁰In addition there were 220 temple workmen whose ancestors had been designated by King David and his officials to assist the Levites. They were all listed by name.