Ezra 2

The list of groups that returned to Judah

1 King Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers had captured many Israeli people and taken them to Babylonia. Many years later, some Israeli people returned to Judah. Some returned to Jerusalem, and some returned to other places in Judah. They went to the towns where their ancestors had lived. This is a list of the groups who returned. 2 The leaders of those groups were Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

There were:

40 74	descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel, who were from the family of Hodaviah
41 128	singers who were descendants of Asaph
42 139	◄gatekeepers/men who guarded the gates of the temple► who were descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai.

43 The ◄temple workers/men who would work in the temple► who were descendants of these men:

Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,

44 Keros, Siaha, Padon,

45 Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,

46 Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,

47 Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,

48 Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,

49 Uzza, Paseah, Besai,

50 Asnah, Meunim, Nephusim,

51 Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,

52 Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,

53 Barkos, Sisera, Temah,

54 Neziah, and Hatipha.

55 These descendants of King Solomon’s servants returned:

Sotai, Hassophereth, Peruda,

56 Jaalah, Darkon, Giddel,

57 Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth-Hazzebaim, and Ami.

58 Altogether, there were 392 temple workers and descendants of Solomon’s servants who returned.

59 There was another group who returned to Judah from Tel-Melah, Tel-Harsha, Kerub, Addan, and Immer towns in Babylonia. But they could not prove that they were descendants of people who previously lived in Israel.

60 This group included 652 people who were descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda.

61 Hobaiah’s clan, Hakkoz’s clan, and Barzillai’s clan also returned. Barzillai had married a woman who was a descendant of Barzillai from the Gilead region, and he had taken for himself the name of his father-in-law’s clan.

62 The people in that group searched in the documents that had the names of the ancestors of all the clans, but these men’s names were not found. So they were not permitted do the work that priests did. 63 The governor told them that they would need to ask a priest to consult Yahweh by ◄casting/throwing the sacred lots/stones that had been marked►, to determine if those men were truly Israelis. When the priests did that, if the stones showed that those men were Israelis, they would be permitted to eat the shares of the sacrifices that were given to the priests.

64 Altogether 42,360 Israeli people who returned to Judah. 65 There were also 7,337 servants and 200 musicians, both men and women, who returned. 66 The Israelis brought with them from Babylonia 736 horses, 245 mules, 67 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys.

68 When they arrived at the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, some of the clan leaders gave money for the supplies needed to rebuild the temple at the place where the temple had been previously. 69 They all gave as much money as they were able to give. Altogether they gave 61,000 gold coins, ◄6,250 pounds/3,000 kg.► of silver, and 100 robes for the priests.

70 Then the priests, the other descendants of Levi, the musicians, the temple guards, and some of the other people started to live in the towns and villages near Jerusalem. The rest of the people went to the other places in Israel where their ancestors had lived.

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