The priests and the Levites had purified themselves, every last one,<n id="1" /> and they all were ceremonially pure. They sacrificed the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their colleagues<n id="2" /> the priests, and for themselves.

<p class="bodytext">The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family<n id="1" /> of Jeshua): 973;p>

<p class="bodytext">The priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel lived in their towns.p>

<p class="bodytext">Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with<n id="1" /> Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers,<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the priests and the Levites took charge of<n id="1" /> the silver, the gold, and the vessels that had been weighed out, to transport them to Jerusalem to the temple of our God.p>

<p class="bodytext">And from among<n id="1" /> the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that<n id="2" /> name).

In the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, Ezra brought<n id="1" /> up to Jerusalem<n id="2" /> some of the Israelites and some of the priests, the Levites, the attendants, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants.

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,<n id="1" /> in the storerooms of the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">So Ezra got up and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath to carry out this plan.<n id="1" /> And they all took a solemn oath.

<t /><p class="bodytext">It was determined<n id="1" /> that from the descendants of the priests, the following had taken foreign wives: from the descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak<n id="1" /> and his priestly colleagues<n id="2" /> and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his colleagues<n id="3" /> started to build<n id="4" /> the altar of the God of Israel so they could offer burnt offerings on it as required by<n id="5" /> the law of Moses the man of God.

When the builders established the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions,<n id="1" /> and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the <sc>Lordsc> according to the instructions left by<n id="2" /> King David of Israel.<n id="3" />

In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work,<n id="2" /> along with the rest of their associates,<n id="3" /> the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed<n id="4" /> the Levites who were at least twenty years old<n id="5" /> to take charge of the work on the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.