Ezra - Ferrar Fenton Bible Translation page 922

EZRA. 8--16 9—·-1 18 20 21 22 there. I consequently sent to Aliezar and Arial and Shemiah, and Aina.~ than, and jarib, and to A1natha.¤,and to Nathan, and Zakeriah, and to Meshulnm, their Chiefs, and to }0i1·ib, and to Alnathan, the Teachers, and despatched them to Ado the Chief in the district of Kasiphia, and put a message in their mouths to transmit to Ad0,and the Attendants their rela.- tives in the District of Kasiphia., to send to us Guardians of the House of our GOD. And they sent to us, by the good hand of our GOD being with us, intelligent men from the Beni Makhli - ben — Levi- ben — Israel; and Sharbiah and eighteen of his sons and brothers; with Hashabiah, and jeshaiah, from the Beni Merari, with twenty of his brothers and sons. And from the Attendants who were

appointed by David, and his Ohicers to serve the Levites, as Attendants two hundred and twenty, all of them properly catalogued. Sant in gprug fur at Safe buruzg. I then proclaimed a Fast at the

River by Ahava to humble ourselves before our GOD, to seek from him a safe journey, for ourselves, our chil- dren, and all our baggage, for I was ashamed to ask the king for an army and cavalry to guard us from enemies on the road, because we had said to the king the power of our GOD was with all who seek Him to benent them, but His power and anger upon all who forsake Him. We consequently fasted and entreated from our GOD about this and He was ready with us. Ely: Snhsrriptintts in the Wzmplz. 26 I next selected twelve from the

Chief Priests—that is Sherbiah and Hashabiah, and ten of their com- panions with them, and weighed the silver and gold to them, as well as the vessels presented to the House of Gon, the presents of the King andy his Counsellors, and his Generals, and the subscriptions of all Israel. I there weighed into their custody six hundred talents of silver, and a hundred and fifty talents of silver vessels and a hundred talents of gold.

1 No·rn.·—-—Ch. 8, v. 26. The Bullion, by

mere weight, was, of Silver, [182,250, and of Gold, £54%5o0 sterling, but in purchasing value pro ably. ten or Efteen times the present power in our day (1903). If we Beside twenty bowls of gold of a thousand Darics, and two vessels of best bronze gold, as valuable as gold. You are con— secrated to the LORD, and the sacred vessels, and the silver and gold are presented to the Evan-Liviuo Gon of your fathers, so guard and preserve them, until you weigh them to the chief Priests and Levites, and the Chiefs of the Families of Israel at jerusalem, who will bring them to the House of our GOD} The Priests and Levites then ac·

cepted the silver and gold, and the vessels, to carry to jerusalem to the House of our GOD. 28

Gb: £arrl; ‘§zg1m from tbz Nyaha. We afterwards marched from the

River by Ahava, on the twelfth of the first month, and the hand of GOD was with us, and protected us from the hand of any enemy, or robber on the journey. Thus we arrived at jeru- salem and rested for three days, and on the fourth day the silver, gold and vessels for the House of our GOD were weighed by the hand of Meremoth— ben—Adriah the Priest, and with him were Aliezar~ben—Phinehas, and with themjozabad-ben-Ishua,andNoadiah- ben~Bigvi, the Levite, the whole were by number and weight, and the whole weight was recorded at the time. Wiz llziurnzh Grnuspuriz Gin ®ifts. The sons of the Transportation,

who had come from captivity, then offered burnt-oderings to the GOD of Israel ;—-'I`welve bulls, for all Israel ; Ninety — six rams; Seventy » seven lambs; and Twelve he—goats as a sin- offering,·—-—The whole were a burnt- oiiering to the LORD. They afterwards delivered the

Decrees of the king to the Royal Governors and Administrators of the Over—river, and they assisted the People and the House of GOD. Gil]: Straub ®;ra, ibn Qrizst, 33 34 35

Separates ibe Heins frum §ngmt¤. When all this was done, the Chiefs 9 The take ten times as the equivalent, it repre· sents £7,188,r5o sterling. If ifteen times, it reaches {10,592,300 sterling, and even that is probably below the thenacommercial power of this inagniticent subscription.———F. F. 922