1 Esdras 8:41–59

⁴¹I assembled them at the river called Theras, and we encamped there three days, and I inspected them.^{* 42}When I found there none of the descendants of the priests or of the Levites, ⁴³I sent word to Eleazar, Iduel, Maasmas, Elnathan, Shemaiah, Jarib, Nathan, Elnathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders and men of understanding; ⁴⁴I told them to go to Iddo, who was the leading man at the place of the treasury, ⁴⁵and ordered them to tell Iddo and his kindred and the treasurers at that place to send us men to serve as priests in the house of our Lord. ⁴⁶And by the mighty hand of our Lord they brought us competent men of the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, son of Israel, namely, Sherebiah with his descendants and kinsmen, eighteen; ⁴⁷also Hashabiah and Annunus and his brother Jeshaiah, of the descendants of Hananiah, and their descendants, twenty men; ⁴⁸and of the temple servants whom David and the leaders had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred twenty temple servants; the list of all their names was reported.^*

Ezra Proclaims a Fast

⁴⁹There I proclaimed a fast for the young men before our Lord, ⁵⁰to seek from him a successful journey for ourselves and for our children and the livestock with us.^{* 51}For I was ashamed to ask the king for infantry and cavalry and an escort to keep us safe from our adversaries, ⁵²for we had said to the king, “The power of our Lord will be with those who seek him and will support them in every way.” ⁵³And again we prayed to our Lord about these things, and we found him very merciful.

The Gifts for the Temple

⁵⁴Then I set apart twelve of the leaders of the priests, Sherebiah and Hashabiah and ten of their kinsmen with them, ⁵⁵and I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the holy vessels of the house of our Lord that the king himself and his counselors and the nobles and all Israel had given.^{* 56}I weighed and gave to them six hundred fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels worth a hundred talents, and a hundred talents of gold, and twenty golden bowls, and twelve bronze vessels of fine bronze that glittered like gold.^{* 57}And I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are vowed to the Lord, the Lord of our ancestors. ⁵⁸Be watchful and on guard until you deliver them to the leaders of the priests and the Levites and to the heads of the ancestral houses of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of our Lord.” ⁵⁹So the priests and the Levites who took the silver and the gold and the vessels that had been in Jerusalem carried them to the temple of the Lord.