8:21 I called for a fast there by the Ahava Canal, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey 1 for us, our children, and all our property. 8:22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy 2 along the way, because we had said to the king, “The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger 3 is against everyone who forsakes him.” 8:23 So we fasted and prayed to our God about this, and he answered us.
8:24 Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with 4 Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers, 5 8:25 and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels intended for the temple of our God – items that the king, his advisers, his officials, and all Israel who were present had contributed. 8:26 I weighed out to them 6 650 talents of silver, silver vessels worth 100 talents, 7 100 talents of gold, 8:27 20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two exquisite vessels of gleaming bronze, as valuable as gold. 8:28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. 8:29 Be careful with them and protect them, until you weigh them out before the leading priests and the Levites and the family leaders of Israel in Jerusalem, 8 in the storerooms of the temple of the Lord.”
8:30 Then the priests and the Levites took charge of 9 the silver, the gold, and the vessels that had been weighed out, to transport them to Jerusalem to the temple of our God.
1 tn Heb “a straight way.”
2 tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).
3 tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).
3 tc The translation reads וַחֲשַׁבְיָה וְשֵׁרֵבְיָה (vÿsherevÿyah vakhashavyah, “and Sherebiah and Hashabiah”) rather than the reading חֲשַׁבְיָה לְשֵׁרֵבְיָה (lÿsherevyah khashavyah, “to Sherebiah Hashabiah”) of the MT.
4 tn Or “relatives”; or “colleagues” (cf. NLT “ten other priests”).
4 tn Heb “upon their hand.”
5 tn Possibly “100 silver vessels worth [?] talents” or “silver vessels weighing 100 talents.”
5 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
6 tn Heb “received.”