1Esdras:8
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And after these things ,
when Artexerxes the king of the Persians reigned came Esdras the son of Saraias ,
the son of Ezerias ,
the son of Helchiah ,
the son of Salum ,
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The son of Sadduc ,
the son of Achitob ,
the son of Amarias ,
the son of Ezias ,
the son of Meremoth ,
the son of Zaraias ,
the son of Savias ,
the son of Boccas ,
the son of Abisum ,
the son of Phinees ,
the son of Eleazar ,
the son of Aaron the chief priest .
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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 .
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And the king did him honour :
for he found grace in his sight in all his requests .
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There went up with him also certain of the children of Israel ,
of the priest of the Levites ,
of the holy singers ,
porters ,
and ministers of the temple ,
unto Jerusalem ,
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In the seventh year of the reign of Artexerxes ,
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 them .
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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 .
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Now the copy of the commission ,
which was written from Artexerxes the king ,
and came to Esdras the priest and reader of the law of the Lord ,
is this that followeth ;
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King Artexerxes unto Esdras the priest and reader of the law of the Lord sendeth greeting :
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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 .
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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 ;
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That they may look unto the affairs of Judea and Jerusalem ,
agreeably to that which is in the law of the Lord ;
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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 ,
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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 ;
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To the end that they may offer sacrifices unto the Lord upon the altar of the Lord their God ,
which is in Jerusalem .
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And whatsoever thou and thy brethren will do with the silver and gold ,
that do ,
according to the will of thy God .
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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 .
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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 .
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And I king Artexerxes 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 ,
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 :
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And hath honoured me in the sight of the king ,
and his counsellors ,
and all his friends and nobles .
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Therefore was I encouraged by the help of the Lord my God ,
and gathered together men of Israel to go up with me .
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And these are the chief according to their families and several dignities ,
that went up with me from Babylon in the reign of king Artexerxes :
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Of the sons of Phinees ,
Gerson :
of the sons of Ithamar ,
Gamael :
of the sons of David ,
Lettus the son of Sechenias :
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Of the sons of Pharez ,
Zacharias ;
and with him were counted an hundred and fifty men :
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Of the sons of Pahath Moab ,
Eliaonias ,
the son of Zaraias ,
and with him two hundred men :
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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 :
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Of the sons of Elam ,
Josias son of Gotholias ,
and with him seventy men :
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Of the sons of Saphatias ,
Zaraias son of Michael ,
and with him threescore and ten men :
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Of the sons of Joab ,
Abadias son of Jezelus ,
and with him two hundred and twelve men :
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Of the sons of Banid ,
Assalimoth son of Josaphias ,
and with him an hundred and threescore men :
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Of the sons of Babi ,
Zacharias son of Bebai ,
and with him twenty and eight men :
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Of the sons of Astath ,
Johannes son of Acatan ,
and with him an hundred and ten men :
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Of the sons of Adonikam the last ,
and these are the names of them ,
Eliphalet ,
Jewel ,
and Samaias ,
and with them seventy men :
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Of the sons of Bago ,
Uthi the son of Istalcurus ,
and with him seventy men .
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And these I gathered together to the river called Theras ,
where we pitched our tents three days :
and then I surveyed them .
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But when I had found there none of the priests and Levites ,
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Then sent I unto Eleazar ,
and Iduel ,
and Masman ,
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And Alnathan ,
and Mamaias ,
and Joribas ,
and Nathan ,
Eunatan ,
Zacharias ,
and Mosollamon ,
principal men and learned .
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And I bade them that they should go unto Saddeus the captain ,
who was in the place of the treasury :
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And commanded them that they should speak unto Daddeus ,
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 .
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And by the mighty hand of our Lord they brought unto us skilful men of the sons of Moli the son of Levi ,
the son of Israel ,
Asebebia ,
and his sons ,
and his brethren ,
who were eighteen .
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And Asebia ,
and Annus ,
and Osaias his brother ,
of the sons of Channuneus ,
and their sons ,
were twenty men .
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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 .
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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 :
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For I was ashamed to ask the king footmen ,
and horsemen ,
and conduct for safeguard against our adversaries .
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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 .
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And again we besought our Lord as touching these things ,
and found him favourable unto us .
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Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests ,
Esebrias ,
and Assanias ,
and ten men of their brethren with them :
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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 .
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And when I had weighed it ,
I delivered unto them six hundred and fifty talents of silver ,
and silver vessels of an hundred talents ,
and an hundred talents of gold ,
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And twenty golden vessels ,
and twelve vessels of brass ,
even of fine brass ,
glittering like gold .
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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 .
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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 .
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So the priests and the Levites ,
who had received the silver and the gold and the vessels ,
brought them unto Jerusalem ,
into the temple of the Lord .
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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 .
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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 Marmoth the priest the son of Iri .
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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 .
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And all the weight of them was written up the same hour .
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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 ,
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Threescore and twelve lambs ,
goats for a peace offering ,
twelve ;
all of them a sacrifice to the Lord .
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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 .
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Now when these things were done ,
the rulers came unto me ,
and said ,
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The nation of Israel ,
the princes ,
the priests and Levites ,
have not put away from them the strange people of the land ,
nor the pollutions of the Gentiles to wit ,
of the Canaanites ,
Hittites ,
Pheresites ,
Jebusites ,
and the Moabites ,
Egyptians ,
and Edomites .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 .
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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 ,
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I said ,
O Lord ,
I am confounded and ashamed before thy face ;
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For our sins are multiplied above our heads ,
and our ignorances have reached up unto heaven .
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For ever since the time of our fathers we have been and are in great sin ,
even unto this day .
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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 .
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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 ;
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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 .
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Yea ,
when we were in bondage ,
we were not forsaken of our Lord ;
but he made us gracious before the kings of Persia ,
so that they gave us food ;
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Yea ,
and honoured the temple of our Lord ,
and raised up the desolate Sion ,
that they have given us a sure abiding in Jewry and Jerusalem .
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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 ,
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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 .
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Therefore now shall ye not join your daughters unto their sons ,
neither shall ye take their daughters unto your sons .
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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 .
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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 ,
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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 .
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Mightest not thou be angry with us to destroy us ,
till thou hadst left us neither root ,
seed ,
nor name ?
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O Lord of Israel ,
thou art true :
for we are left a root this day .
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Behold ,
now are we before thee in our iniquities ,
for we cannot stand any longer by reason of these things before thee .
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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 .
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Then Jechonias the son of Jeelus ,
one of the sons of Israel ,
called out ,
and said ,
O Esdras ,
we have sinned against the Lord God ,
we have married strange women of the nations of the land ,
and now is all Israel aloft .
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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 ,
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Like as thou hast decreed ,
and as many as do obey the law of the Lord .
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Arise and put in execution :
for to thee doth this matter appertain ,
and we will be with thee :
do valiantly .
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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 .
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