And these are the heads of their fathers’ houses of the immigrants.

and the lineage and their lineage to which they attributed their descent.

Artaxerxes He is Darius.

Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Parosh That is one family, and Zechariah was the head of the family.

and with him With his lineage, the males of his family traced their lineage.

Ebed the son of Jonathan That was his name.

the last ones who were the last ones to go after Ezra.

to the flowing river Heb. אֶל הַנָהָר הַבָּא, lit. to the coming river.

to Ahava to that river.

and we encamped there and we were camping there.

and I surveyed the people I directed my attention to survey the people who had gathered with me.

And I sent to Eliezer...the heads the great men.

the wise men Heb. מְבִינִים, lit. understanding. They were wise men.

And I commanded them, etc. I sent them and commanded them to speak to Iddo, who was the greatest and most esteemed in Casiphia.

to Iddo Heb. עַל אִדוֹ, lit. about Iddo.

and I put...into their mouth I put into their mouth words to speak as my emissary to Iddo and his brother, who were placed and settled in Casiphia, to bring us servants to serve in the Temple.

in Casiphia the name of a place in Babylon.

Ahiv the name of a man.

who were settled Heb. הַנְתִינִים, like הַנְתוּנִים, those who were settled. Therefore, it is written with a “vav.”

according to the hand of our God just as the success of the Holy One, blessed be He, was upon us.

a man of intellect a wise man.

of the sons of Mahli... All these were Levites.

And of the Nethinites And of the slaves, the Nethnites that King David had appointed, and the chefs of Israel ascended with them.

to fast Heb. לְהִתְעַנוֹת to fast.

a straight way that the Omnipresent lead us in peace.

For I was ashamed For I was ashamed of the king, and I did not wish to request of him chariots and horsemen in order to guide us.

for we had said For we had already said to King Darius that the Holy One, blessed be He, benefits those who seek Him and pours out His wrath and His anger upon those who forsake Him.

and He accepted our prayer for we arrived safely in Jerusalem.

And I separated And when I was there by the river Ahava, I separated some of the chiefs of the priests and weighed out the silver and the gold for them to deposit into the treasuries of the House of the Lord.

which...had offered which those living in Babylon had offered.

and one hundred silver vessels by talents one talent for each vessel.

And...sprinkling bowls bowls for sprinkling [the blood of the sacrifices].

of one thousand darics a type of coin. There were one thousand darics in these twenty sprinkling bowls of gold.

golden of golden copper (or) a type of copper coin.

fine Heb. טוֹבָה, the feminine form, modifying copper (נְחֹשֶּׁת).

two two vessels.

precious as gold Heb. חֲמוּדוֹת כַּזָהָב. He calls the vessels חֲמוּדוֹת in the feminine form.

to them to these chiefs of the priests.

the chambers of the House of the Lord in order to deposit them in the chambers of the Temple.

on the twelfth of the first month on the twelfth of Nissan

the hand of our God was upon us to cause us to succeed in the way that we traversed.

Everything was counted and weighed The number of the vessels and their weights was the same when they received them as when they itemized them.

Those coming from captivity, the people of the exile those who came with Ezra.

offered up burnt offerings all were burnt offerings, and it was a temporary ruling.

And they gave the king’s decrees These returnees from exile related King Darius’s mandate to the officers of the king, those who see his face.

and the governors Heb. וּפַחֲווֹת, like וְפַחוֹת.

the land beyond the river those on the side of the land of Israel, who are considered as being beyond the river of the inhabitants of Babylon.

and they exalted They were exalting and assisting.