1 Esdras 5

1After this, the heads of the families were chosen according to their tribes to go up with their wives, sons, daughters, menservants, maidservants, and their cattle. 2And Darius sent with them 1,000 horsemen until they had brought them back safely to Jerusalem, with music, tabrets, and flutes, 3and all their brethren danced. And he made them go up together with them. 4And these are the names of the men who went up, according to their families, to their tribes, to their own district. 5The priests: the sons of Phinehas, son of Aaron; Jeshua, son of Jozadak, son of Seraiah; and Joachim, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, of the house of David, from the lineage of Perez, of the tribe of Judah, 6who spoke wise words before Darius, the king of Persia, in the second year of his reign, in the month Nisan, the first month. 7These are the ones from Judea who came up from the captivity in exile, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had deported to Babylon; 8and each returned to Jerusalem and the rest of Judea, to his own city. They came with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Eneniah, Mordecai, Beelsarus, Aspharasus, Boroliah, Reimus, Baana, their leaders. 9The number of the people and their leaders: sons of Parosh: 2,172; sons of Shephatiah: 472; 10sons of Arah: 756; 11sons of Pahath-Moab, of the sons of Jeshua and Joab: 2,812; 12sons of Elam: 1,254; sons of Zattu: 945; sons of Zaccai: 705; sons of Bani: 648; 13sons of Bebai: 623; sons of Asgad: 3,322; 14sons of Adonikam: 667; sons of Bigvai: 2,066; sons of Adin: 454; 15sons of Ater, son of Hezekiah: 92; sons of Kilan and Azetas: 67; sons of Azaru: 432; 16sons of Ananias: 101; sons of Arom: 112; sons of Bezai: 323; sons of Hariph: 112; 17sons of Betyrus: 3,005; sons of Bethlehem: 123; 18those from Netophah: 55; those from Anathoth: 158; those from Beth Azmaveth: 42; 19those from Kiriath Jearim: 25; those from Chephirah and Beeroth: 743; 20those from Chadias and Ammidiah: 422; those from Ramah and Geba: 621; 21those from Michmash: 122; those from Bethel and Ai: 52; sons of Niphis: 156; 22sons of another Calamolalus and Onus: 725; sons of Jericho: 345; 23sons of Senaah: 3,330. 24The priests: sons of Jedaiah, son of Jeshua among the sons of Anasib: 972; sons of Immer: 1,052; 25sons of Pashhur: 1,247; sons of Harim: 1,017. 26Then the Levites: sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel and Bannas and Hodaviah: 74. 27The temple singers: sons of Asaph: 148. 28The gatekeepers: sons of Shallum, sons of Ater, sons of Talmon, sons of Akkub, sons of Hatita, sons of Shobai: all together 139. 29The temple servants: sons of Ezau, sons of Hasupha, sons of Tabaoth, sons of Keros, sons of Siaha, sons of Padon, sons of Lebanah, sons of Hagaba, 30sons of Akkub, sons of Uzza, sons of Paseah, sons of Besai, sons of Asnah, sons of Meunim, sons of Nephusim, 31sons of Bakbuk, sons of Hakupha, sons of Harhur, sons of Bazluth, sons of Mehida, sons of Harsha, sons of Barkos, sons of Sisera, sons of Temah, sons of Neziah, sons of Hatipha. 32Sons of the servants of Solomon: sons of Hassophereth, sons of Peruda, sons of Jaalah, sons of Lozon, sons of Giddel, sons of Shephatiah, 33sons of Hattil, sons of Pochereth of Zebaim, sons of Sarothie, sons of Masiah, sons of Gas, sons of Addus, sons of Subas, sons of Apherra, sons of Barodis, sons of Shaphat, sons of Amon. 34All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants: 372. 35These are the ones who came up from Tel-Melah and Tel-Harsha: their leaders were Cherub, Addan, and Immer; 36but they could not prove their families and their lineage, whether they were of Israel: sons of Delaiah, son of Tobiah, sons of Nekoda: 652. 37And of the priests: sons of Habaiah, sons of Hakkoz, sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name. 38These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 39And the governor told them that they should not partake of the most holy food until a priest with Urim and Thummim should arise. 40The whole assembly together was 42,360, besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337; and they had 245 singers, male and female. 41Their camels were 435, and their horses 7,036, their mules 245, their donkeys 5,525. 42Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of God in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site according to their ability, 43and they gave to the treasury of the work 1,000 minas of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priestly garments. 44So the priests and the Levites and some of the people lived in Jerusalem and its vicinity, and the singers and the gatekeepers and all Israel in their towns. 45When the seventh month came and the children of Israel were in their towns, the people gathered as one man to the open square before the first gate toward the east. 46Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up, along with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brothers, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, 47to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God. 48They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both morning and evening. 49And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, 50and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, 51and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord. 52From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. 53So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant they had from Cyrus king of Persia. 54In the second year after their arrival at the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their brothers, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. 55They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to supervise the work of the house of the Lord. 56And Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Hodaviah, along with the sons of Henadad, and their sons and brothers, the Levites, joined together to supervise those working on the house of God. 57And the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord. 58The priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. 59And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel." 60And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 61But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, 62though many shouted aloud for joy, 63so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. 64When the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 65they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, "Let us build with you, 66for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here." 67But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses in Israel said to them, "You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; 68but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us." 69Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 70and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.