the law of GOD
from heaven, that ye do diligently,

To an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil and salt without measure.

All things that pertain unto the law of God from heaven, to do them diligently unto the house of God from heaven, lest wrath come upon the king’s kingdom, and upon his children.

And let it be known unto you, that ye have no power to lay interest, or toll, or yearly rent, upon any priest, or Levite, or singer, or porter, or Nethinim, or servant, in the house of this God.

And thou, Ezra, according to the wisdom of thy God, which is under thine hand, appoint judges and officers to judge all the people that are beyond the waters, all they that know the law of thy God; and they that know it not, teach them.

And whosoever shall not diligently do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, he shall have his sentence for the deed, whether it be to death, or to the eight, or to the penance of the estate, or to prison.

Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath inspired the king to adorn the house of God which is at Jerusalem,

And he showed me mercy in the sight of the king, and in the sight of his counsellors, and in the sight of all the king’s mighty men. And I was confident in the hand of the LORD my God upon me, and gathered the heads of Israel to go up with me.
(Ezra)
Chapter 8
Ezra’s journey to Jerusalem is accomplished.

These are the heads of their fathers that were reckoned, which came up with me from Babylon in the days of the reign of Arthasheth king:

Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattus.

Of the sons of Shechaniah, the sons of Pareos: Zechariah, and with him fifty and one men; 4. Of the sons of Pahathmoab, Elioenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred men; 5. Of the sons of Shechaniah, the son of Jehaziel, and with him three hundred men; 6. Of the sons of Adin-ebed, the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty sons of men.

Of the children of Elam; Jezaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy men; 8. Of the sons of Shephatiah; Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him fourscore 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 Selomith, the son of Jehoshaphat, and with him an hundred and threescore men;

Of the sons of Bebai; Zechaniah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight men; 12. Of the sons of Asgad: Johanan the youngest son, and with him an hundred and ten men; 13. Of the last sons of Adonikam; and their names were Eliphelet, and Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and threescore men with them;

Of the sons of Bigevai; Uthai and Zabud, and with them seventy men.

And I gathered them unto the river that cometh to Aheva, and they abode there three days.
And when I had taken heed of the people, and of the priests, I found no Levites there.

And I sent Eliezer, and Ariel, and Shemaiah, and Elnathan, and Jarib, and Elnathan, and Nathan, and Zechariah, and Meshullam, the rulers, and Jehoiarib, and Elnathan, the teachers; 17. And I sent them out to Iddo the chief to Casphiah, to fetch us servants in the house of our God. And I commanded them to speak unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at Casphiah.

And they brought us, according to the good hand of our God upon us, a wise man of the sons of Maheli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;

And Hashabiah, and with him Isaiah of the children of Meran, with his brethren and their sons, twenty;

And of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes gave to minister unto the Levites, two hundred and twenty, all called by name.

And I proclaimed a fast there by the waters of Aheva, to humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our children, and for all our substance.

For I was ashamed to require of the king an escort and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way. For we had said unto the king, The hand of our God is best upon all them that seek him, and his strength and wrath upon all them that forsake him.

So we fasted, and sought these things of our God: and he hearkened unto us.

And I separated twelve of the chief priests, Sherebiah and Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brethren.

And he weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels for the offering of the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his princes, and all Israel that were present, had given for the offering.

And he weighed under their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and an hundred talents of silver vessels, and an hundred talents of gold,

Twenty gilded vessels of a thousand shekels, and two good vessels of brass, precious, pure as gold.

And he said unto them: Ye are holy unto the LORD; so are the vessels holy, and the silver and gold freely given unto the LORD your fathers’ God.

Watch ye therefore, and keep it, until ye have weighed it before the chief priests, and the Levites, and the chief fathers of Israel, which are at Jerusalem, in the treasuries of the house
of the LORD.

And the priests and the Levites took the silver that was weighed, and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.

So we departed from the river Aheva on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and delivered us out of the hand of the enemies, and from them that kept upon us in the way.

And they came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days.

And on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed into the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Benui the Levite,

According to the number and weight of every one: and the weight was all described at that time.

And the children of the prison, which were come out of the prison, offered burnt offerings unto the LORD God of Israel; twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he goats for a sin offering, all for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

And they delivered the king’s commandment unto the king’s officers, and to the governors on this side the river. And they exalted the people and the house of God.
(Ezra)
Chapter 9
Ezra’s prayer of confession and repentance.

When all these things were made ready, the princes came unto me, and said: The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, are not separated from the nations of the countries according to their abominations, even the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Ammonites, and the Moabites, and the Egyptians, and the Amorites; 2. For they have taken their daughters, and their sons, and have made the holy seed common with the nations of the countries. And the hand of the princes and rulers was the chiefest in this iniquity.

When I heard these things, I rent my clothes and my garment, and plucked off my hair and my beard, and sat by myself.

And all that feared the word of the LORD God of Israel were gathered unto me because of the great transgression: and I sat alone until the evening sacrifice.

And at the evening sacrifice I arose out of my affliction, and rent my clothes and my garment, and fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God, 6. And said, My God, I am ashamed, and I shrink from lifting up mine eyes unto thee, my God: for our iniquity is increased upon our head, and our sin is great unto heaven.

From the days of our fathers we have been in great trespass unto this day: and for our iniquity we and our kings and our priests are delivered into the hand of the kings of the countries, into the sword, and into prison, and into spoil, and into shame of countenance, as it is this day.

But now there hath been a little and sudden grace from the LORD our God, that there hath escaped from us a remnant, that he should give us a nail in his holy place, that our God should enlighten our eyes, and give us a little life, because we are servants.

For we are servants, and our God hath not forsaken us, though we were servants; and hath shewed mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us life, and to exalt the house of our God, and to set up the spoil thereof, and to give us a fence in Judah and Jerusalem.

Now what shall we say, our God, after this, that we have forsaken thy commandments?

Which thou commandedst by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land wherein ye come to inherit