1 Esdras 5

1 After this the heads of the fathers’ houses were chosen to go up, by their tribes, with their wives and their sons and daughters, and their male and female servants, and their cattle. 2 And Darius sent a thousand horsemen with them, to bring them back to Jerusalem in peace, and with music, with drums and flutes; 3 and all their brothers were playing, and he had them go up together with them.

4 And these are the names of the men who went up, by their fathers’ houses among the tribes, over their divisions. 5 The priests, the sons of Phinehas son of Aaron: Jeshua son of Jozadak, son of Seraiah, and Joakim son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, of the house of David, of the family of Perez, and of the tribe of Judah, [a] 6 who spoke wise words before Darius king of the Persians in the second year of his reign, in the month of Nisan, the first month. [c]

7 And these are the men of Judah who came up out of the captivity of the exile, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried off to Babylon; 8 and they returned to Jerusalem and to the rest of Judah, each man to his own city — those who came with Zerubbabel and Jeshua: Nehemiah, Zaraias, Resaias, Enenius, Mordecai, Beelsarus, Aspharasus, Borolius, Roimus and Baanah, their leaders. [e]

9 The number of the men of the nation, and their leaders: the sons of Parosh, 2,172; [f] 10 the sons of Shephatiah, 472; the sons of Arah, 756; 11 the sons of Pahath-moab, belonging to the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812; [g] 12 the sons of Elam, 1,254; the sons of Zattu, 945; the sons of Chorbe, 705; the sons of Binnui, 648; 13 the sons of Bebai, 623; the sons of Azgad, 1,322; [h] 14 the sons of Adonikam, 667; the sons of Bigvai, 2,066; the sons of Adin, 454; 15 the sons of Ater, of Hezekiah, 92; the sons of Kilan and Azetas, 67; the sons of Azurus, 432; 16 the sons of Annias, 101; the sons of Arom, the sons of Bassai, 323; the sons of Ariphus, 112; [i] 17 the sons of Baeterus, 3,005; the men of Bethlomon, 123; [j] 18 the men of Netophah, 55; the men of Anathoth, 158; the men of Beth-azmaveth, 42; 19 the men of Kiriath-jearim, 25; the men of Chephirah and Beeroth, 743; [k] 20 the Chadiasites and the Ammidites, 422; the men of Ramah and Geba, 621; 21 the men of Macalon, 122; the men of Betolius, 52; the sons of Niphis, 156; 22 the sons of the other Kalamos, and of Onus, 725; the sons of Jericho, 345; [l] 23 the sons of Senaah, 3,330.

24 The priests: the sons of Jedaiah son of Jeshua, belonging to the sons of Anasib, 972; the sons of Immer, 1,052; [m] 25 the sons of Pashhur, 1,247; the sons of Charme, 1,017. [n] 26 And the Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel and Bannus and Sudias, 74. 27 The temple singers: the sons of Asaph, 128. 28 The gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai — 139 in all. [o]

29 The temple servants: the sons of Esau, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, the sons of Keros, the sons of Sua, the sons of Phadaias, the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, [p] 30 the sons of Akud, the sons of Uta, the sons of Ketab, the sons of Hagab, the sons of Subai, the sons of Hanan, the sons of Kathua, the sons of Geddur, 31 the sons of Jairus, the sons of Daisan, the sons of Noeba, the sons of Chaseba, the sons of Gazera, the sons of Uzziah, the sons of Phinoe, the sons of Asara, the sons of Basthai, the sons of Asnah, the sons of Maani, the sons of Nephisi, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Achiba, the sons of Asur, the sons of Pharakim, the sons of Bazluth, [q] 32 the sons of Meedda, the sons of Koutha, the sons of Charea, the sons of Barkos, the sons of Serar, the sons of Thomoi, the sons of Nasi, the sons of Hatipha.

33 The sons of the servants of Solomon: the sons of Assaphioth, the sons of Pharida, the sons of Jeeli, the sons of Lozon, the sons of Isdael, the sons of Saphythi, 34 the sons of Hagia, the sons of Phakareth-sabie, the sons of Sarothie, the sons of Masias, the sons of Gas, the sons of Addus, the sons of Subas, the sons of Apherra, the sons of Barodis, the sons of Shaphat, the sons of Amon. [r] 35 All the temple servants and the sons of the servants of Solomon: 372.

36 These came up from Tel-melah and Tel-harsha, their leader Charaath, Adan and Amar, [s] 37 and they could not tell their fathers’ houses or their descent, whether they were of Israel: the sons of Dalan son of Tuban, the sons of Nekodan — 652. [t] 38 And of the priests, those who laid claim to the priesthood and were not found: the sons of Obbia, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Joddus, who had taken as his wife Augia, one of the daughters of Barzillai, and was called by his name. 39 And when the written record of their line was searched for in the register and was not found, they were kept from serving as priests; 40 and Nehemiah and Attharias told them that they were not to share in the holy things until a high priest should arise clothed with Manifestation and Truth. [u]

41 And they were all: of Israel, from twelve years old and upward, apart from male and female servants, 42,360; their male and female servants, 7,337; the singing men and the singing women, 245; [w] 42 435 camels, 7,036 horses, 245 mules, 5,525 pack animals.

43 And some of the leaders of the families, when they came to the temple of God that is in Jerusalem, vowed to raise the house again on its own place, as far as their power went, 44 and to give to the holy treasury of the work about 1,250 pounds of gold, about 6,250 pounds of silver, and a hundred priests’ robes. [x] 45 And the priests and the Levites and those of the people settled in Jerusalem and in the country, and the temple singers and the gatekeepers, and all Israel in their villages.

46 When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were each in their own places, they gathered as one into the open square of the first gateway, the one toward the east. 47 And Jeshua son of Jozadak stood up, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and they made ready the altar of the God of Israel, 48 to offer whole burnt offerings on it, in keeping with what is set down in the book of Moses the man of God. 49 And some of the other nations of the land gathered to them. And they set the altar upright on its own place, because all the nations of the land were at enmity with them and were stronger than they; and they brought up sacrifices at the proper times, and whole burnt offerings to the Lord, morning and evening.

50 And they kept the Feast of Tents, as it is laid down in the law, and sacrifices day by day, as was fitting, [y] 51 and after that the standing offerings, and the sacrifices of the sabbaths and of the new moons and of all the feasts made holy. 52 And all who had vowed a vow to God began to offer sacrifices to God from the new moon of the seventh month, though the sanctuary of God had not yet been built. [z] 53 And they gave money to the stonecutters and the carpenters, and food and drink and carts to the Sidonians and the Tyrians, so that they would bring cedar wood from Lebanon and float it in rafts to the harbor at Joppa, according to the decree written for them by Cyrus king of the Persians. [aa]

54 And in the second year after he came to the temple of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel made a beginning, and Jeshua son of Jozadak, and their brothers, and the priests, the Levites, and all who had come to Jerusalem out of the captivity; 55 and they laid the foundation of the sanctuary of God on the new moon of the second month of the second year after they came to Judah and Jerusalem. 56 And they set the Levites, from twenty years old, over the works of the Lord. And Jeshua stood up, and his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel his brother, and the sons of Jeshua Emadabun, and the sons of Joda son of Iliadun, with their sons and brothers — all the Levites, of one accord driving the work forward, doing the works in the house of God. [ab]

57 So the builders built the sanctuary of the Lord. And the priests stood in their robes with instruments of music and trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, singing praise to the Lord and blessing him, after the manner of David king of Israel. 58 And they called out in songs of praise, giving thanks to the Lord: “For his goodness and his glory are forever, over all Israel.” 59 And all the people sounded trumpets and shouted with a loud voice, singing praise to the Lord over the raising up of the house of the Lord.

60 And there came, from among the priests and the Levites and the heads of their fathers’ houses, the elders who had seen the former house, to the building of this one, with shouting and great weeping; 61 and many came with trumpets and joy, with a loud voice, 62 so that the people could not hear the trumpets for the weeping of the people; for the crowd was sounding the trumpets so mightily that it was heard far off.

63 And the enemies of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin heard it, and they came to find out what the sound of the trumpets meant. 64 And they learned that those who had come out of the captivity were building the sanctuary for the Lord, the God of Israel. 65 And they came to Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the leaders of the families, and they said to them, “We will build together with you. 66 For we listen to your Lord just as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him from the days of Asbasareth king of the Assyrians, who brought us here.” [ac]

67 And Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the leaders of the families of Israel said to them, “It is not for you and for us to build the house for the Lord our God. 68 We alone will build for the Lord of Israel, in keeping with what Cyrus king of the Persians ordered us.”

69 But the nations of the land pressed hard on those in Judah, and hemmed them in, and shut them off from building; 70 and by plots and by working on the crowd and by stirring up riots, they kept the building from being finished all the time of the life of king Cyrus. 71 And they were kept from building for two years, until the reign of Darius.