1 Esdras 8
1 And after these things, when
Artaxerxes the king of the Persians reigned, came Esdras
the son of Azaraias, the son of Zechrias, the son of
Helchias, the son of Salum, 2 the son
of Sadduc, the son of Achitob, the son of Amarias, the son of Ozias, the son
of Boccas, the son of Abisai, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar, the son
of Aaron the chief priest. 3 This
Esdras went up from Babylon, as a scribe, being very ready in the law of
Moses, that was given by the God of Israel.
4 And the king did him honour: for he
found grace in his sight in all his requests.
5 There went up with him also certain
of the children of Israel, of the priests, of the Levites, of the holy
singers, porters, and ministers of the temple, unto Jerusalem,
6 in the seventh year of the reign of
Artaxerxes, in the fifth month, this was the king's seventh year; for they
went from Babylon in the first day of the first month, and came to Jerusalem,
according to the prosperous journey which the Lord gave to him.
7 For Esdras had very great skill, so
that he omitted nothing of the law and commandments of the Lord, but taught
all Israel the ordinances and judgments.
8 Now the copy of the commission,
which was written from Artaxerxes the king, and came to Esdras the priest and
reader of the law of the Lord, is this that followeth;
9 King Artaxerxes unto Esdras the
priest and reader of the law of the Lord sendeth greeting:
10 Having determined to deal
graciously, I have given order, that such of the nation of the Jews, and of
the priests and Levites, being within our realm, as are willing and desirous,
should go with thee unto Jerusalem.
11 As many therefore as have a mind
thereunto, let them depart with thee, as it hath seemed good both to me and my
seven friends the counsellors;
12 that they may look unto the
affairs of Judea and Jerusalem, agreeably to that which is in the law of the
Lord; 13 and carry the gifts unto the
Lord of Israel to Jerusalem, which I and my friends have vowed, and all the
gold and silver that in the country of Babylon can be found, to the Lord in
Jerusalem, 14 with that also which is
given of the people for the temple of the Lord their God at Jerusalem: and
that silver and gold may be collected for bullocks, rams, and lambs, and
things thereunto appertaining; 15 to
the end that they may offer sacrifices unto the Lord upon the altar of the
Lord their God, which is in Jerusalem.
16 And whatsoever thou and thy
brethren will do with the silver and gold, that do, according to the will of
thy God. 17 And the holy vessels of
the Lord, which are given thee for the use of the temple of thy God, which is
in Jerusalem, thou shalt set before thy God in Jerusalem.
18 And whatsoever thing else thou
shalt remember for the use of the temple of thy God, thou shalt give it out of
the king's treasury.
19 And I king Artaxerxes have also
commanded the keepers of the treasures in Syria and Phenice, that whatsoever
Esdras the priest and the reader of the law of the most high God shall send
for, they should give it him with speed,
20 to the sum of an hundred talents
of silver, likewise also of wheat even to an hundred cors, and an hundred
pieces of wine, and other things in abundance.
21 Let all things be performed after
the law of God diligently unto the most high God, that wrath come not upon the
kingdom of the king and his sons.
22 I command you also, that ye
require no tax, nor any other imposition, of any of the priests, or Levites,
or holy singers, or porters, or ministers of the temple, or of any that have
doings in this temple, and that no man have authority to impose any thing upon
them.
23 And thou, Esdras, according to the
wisdom of God ordain judges and justices, that they may judge in all Syria and
Phenice all those that know the law of thy God; and those that know it not
thou shalt teach. 24 And whosoever
shall transgress the law of thy God, and of the king, shall be punished
diligently, whether it be by death, or other punishment, by penalty of money,
or by imprisonment.
25 Then said Esdras the scribe,
Blessed be the only Lord God of my fathers, who hath put these things into the
heart of the king, to glorify his house that is in Jerusalem:
26 and hath honoured me in the sight
of the king, and his counsellors, and all his friends and nobles.
27 Therefore was I encouraged by the
help of the Lord my God, and gathered together men of Israel to go up with me.
28 And these are the chief according
to their families and several dignities, that went up with me from Babylon in
the reign of king Artaxerxes: 29 of
the sons of Phinees, Gerson: of the sons of Ithamar, Gamaliel: of the sons of
David, Lettus the son of Sechenias:
30 of the sons of Pharez, Zacharias;
and with him were counted an hundred and fifty men:
31 of the sons of Pahath Moab,
Eliaonias, the son of Zaraias, and with him two
hundred men: 32 of the sons of
Zathoe, Sechenias the son of Jezelus, and with him three hundred men: of the
sons of Adin, Obeth the son of Jonathan, and with him two hundred and fifty
men: 33 of the sons of Elam, Josias
son of Gotholias, and with him seventy men:
34 of the sons of Saphatias, Zaraias
son of Michael, and with him threescore and ten men:
35 of the sons of Joab, Abadias son
of Jezelus, and with him two hundred and twelve men:
36 of the sons of Bania, Salimoth son
of Josaphias, and with him an hundred and threescore men:
37 of the sons of Babi, Zacharias son
of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight men:
38 of the sons of Astath, Johannes
son of Acatan, and with him an hundred and ten men:
39 of the sons of Adonikam the last,
and these are the names of them, Eliphalet, son of
Geuel, and Samaias, and with them seventy men:
40 of the sons of Bago, Uthi the son
of Istalcurus, and with him seventy men.
41 And these I gathered together to
the river called Theras, where we pitched our tents three days: and then I
surveyed them. 42 But when I had
found there none of the priests and Levites,
43 then sent I unto Eleazar, and
Iduel, and Mæa, and Masman, 44 and
Alnathan, and Samaias, and Joribas, and Nathan, Ennatan, Zacharias, and
Mosollamus, principal men and learned.
45 And I bade them that they should
go unto Loddeus the captain, who was in the place of the treasury:
46 and commanded them that they
should speak unto Loddeus, and to his brethren, and to the treasurers in that
place, to send us such men as might execute the priests' office in the house
of the Lord.
47 And by the mighty hand of our Lord
they brought unto us skilful men of the sons of Mooli the son of Levi, the son
of Israel, Asebebia, and his sons, and his brethren, who were eighteen.
48 And Asebia, and Annuus, and Osaias
his brother, of the sons of Chanuneus, and their sons, were twenty men.
49 And of the servants of the temple
whom David had ordained, and the principal men for the service of the Levites
to wit, the servants of the temple, two hundred and twenty, the catalogue of
whose names were shewed.
50 And there I vowed a fast unto the
young men before our Lord, to desire of him a prosperous journey both for us
and them that were with us, for our children, and for the cattle:
51 for I was ashamed to ask the king
footmen, and horsemen, and conduct for safeguard against our adversaries.
52 For we had said unto the king,
that the power of the Lord our God should be with them that seek him, to
support them in all ways. 53 And
again we besought our Lord as touching these things, and found him favourable
unto us.
54 Then I separated twelve of the
chief of the priests, Esebrias, and Samias, and ten men of their brethren with
them: 55 and I weighed them the gold,
and the silver, and the holy vessels of the house of our Lord, which the king,
and his council, and the princes, and all Israel, had given.
56 And when I had weighed it, I
delivered unto them six hundred and sixty talents of silver, and silver
vessels of an hundred talents, and an hundred talents of gold,
57 and twenty golden vessels, and
twelve vessels of brass, even of fine brass,
glittering like gold.
58 And I said unto them, Both ye are
holy unto the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the gold and the silver is a
vow unto the Lord, the Lord of our fathers.
59 Watch ye, and keep them till ye
deliver them to the chief of the priests and Levites, and to the principal men
of the families of Israel, in Jerusalem, into the chambers of the house of our
God. 60 So the priests and the
Levites, who had received the silver and the gold and the vessels that were in
Jerusalem, brought them into the temple of the Lord.
61 And from the river Theras we
departed the twelfth day of the first month, and came to Jerusalem by the
mighty hand of our Lord, which was with us: and from the beginning of our
journey the Lord delivered us from every enemy, and
so we came to Jerusalem.
62 And when we had been there three
days, the gold and silver that was weighed was delivered in the house of our
Lord on the fourth day unto Marmothi the priest the son of Uria.
63 And with him was Eleazar the son
of Phinees, and with them were Josabad the son of Jesu and Moeth the son of
Sabban, Levites: all was delivered them by number and
weight. 64 And all the weight of them
was written up the same hour.
65 Moreover they that were come out
of the captivity offered sacrifice unto the Lord God of Israel,
even twelve bullocks for all Israel, fourscore and
sixteen rams, 66 threescore and
twelve lambs, goats for a peace-offering, twelve; all of them a sacrifice to
the Lord. 67 And they delivered the
king's commandments unto the king's stewards, and to the governors of
Celosyria and Phenice; and they honoured the people and the temple of God.
68 Now when these things were done,
the rulers came unto me, and said,
69 The nation of Israel, the princes,
the priests and the Levites, have not put away from them the strange people of
the land, nor their pollutions from the Gentiles,
to wit, the Canaanites, Hittites, Pheresites,
Jebusites, and the Moabites, Egyptians, and Edomites.
70 For both they and their sons have
married with their daughters, and the holy seed is mixed with the strange
people of the land; and from the beginning of this matter the rulers and the
great men have been partakers of this iniquity.
71 And as soon as I had heard these
things, I rent my clothes, and the holy garment, and pulled off the hair from
off my head and beard, and sat me down sad and very heavy.
72 So all they that were then moved
at the word of the Lord God of Israel assembled unto me, whilst I mourned for
the iniquity: but I sat still full of heaviness until the evening sacrifice.
73 Then rising up from the fast with
my clothes and the holy garment rent, and bowing my knees, and stretching
forth my hands unto the Lord, 74 I
said, O Lord, I am confounded and ashamed before thy face;
75 for our sins are multiplied above
our heads, and our ignorances have reached up unto heaven.
76 For ever since the time of our
fathers we have been and are in great sin, even unto
this day. 77 And for our sins and our
fathers' we with our brethren and our kings and our priests were given up unto
the kings of the earth, to the sword, and to captivity, and for a prey with
shame, unto this day.
78 And now in some measure hath mercy
been shewed unto us from thee, O Lord, that there should be left us a root and
a name in the place of thy sanctuary;
79 and to discover unto us a light in
the house of the Lord our God, and to give us food in the time of our
servitude. 80 Yea, when we were in
bondage, we were not forsaken of our Lord; but he made us favoured before the
kings of Persia, so that they gave us food;
81 yea, and honoured the temple of
our Lord, and raised up the desolate Sion, so that they have given us a sure
abiding in Jewry and Jerusalem.
82 And now, O Lord, what shall we
say, having these things? for we have transgressed thy commandments, which
thou gavest by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying,
83 That the land, which ye enter into
to possess as an heritage, is a land polluted with the pollutions of the
strangers of the land, and they have filled it with their uncleanness.
84 Therefore now shall ye not join
your daughters unto their sons, neither shall ye take their daughters unto
your sons. 85 Moreover ye shall never
seek to have peace with them, that ye may be strong, and eat the good things
of the land, and that ye may leave the inheritance of the land unto your
children for evermore.
86 And all that is befallen is done
unto us for our wicked works and great sins: for thou, O Lord, didst make our
sins light, 87 and didst give unto us
such a root: but we have turned back again to transgress thy law, and to
mingle ourselves with the uncleanness of the nations of the land.
88 Mightest not thou be angry with us
to destroy us, till thou hadst left us neither root, seed, nor name?
89 O Lord of Israel, thou art true:
for we are left a root this day.
90 Behold, now are we before thee in
our iniquities, for we cannot stand any longer by reason of these things
before thee. 91 And as Esdras in his
prayer made his confession, weeping, and lying flat upon the ground before the
temple, there gathered unto him from Jerusalem a very great multitude of men
and women and children: for there was great weeping among the multitude.
92 Then Jechonias the son of Jeelus,
one of the children of Israel, called out and said, O Esdras, we have sinned
against the Lord; we have married strange women of the nations of the land,
and now is all Israel aloft. 93 Let
us make an oath to the Lord, that we will put away all our wives, which we
have taken of the heathen, with their children,
94 like as thou hast decreed, and as
many as do obey the law of the Lord.
95 Arise, and put into execution: for
to thee doth this matter appertain, and we will be with thee: do valiantly.
96 So Esdras arose, and took an oath
of the chief of the priests and Levites of all Israel to do after these
things; and so they sware.