18. Then, by the good hand of our Elohim upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Maḥli son of Lĕwi, son of Yisra’ĕl, and Shĕrĕḇyah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen;
19. and Ḥashaḇyah, and with him Yeshayah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty;
20. and of the Nethinim, whom Dawiḏ and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Lĕwites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim, all of them designated by name.
21. I then proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahawa, to humble ourselves before our Elohim, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions,
22. for I was ashamed to ask of the sovereign a group of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the sovereign, saying, “The hand of our Elohim is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.”
23. So we fasted and prayed to our Elohim for this, and He answered our prayer.
24. And I separated twelve of the leaders of the priests: Shĕrĕḇyah, Ḥashaḇyah, and ten of their brothers with them;
25. and weighed out to them the silver, and the gold, and the utensils, the contribution for the House of our Elohim which the sovereign and his counsellors and his heads, and all Yisra’ĕl who were there, had presented.
26. Thus I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver objects of one hundred talents, one hundred talents of gold,
27. and twenty gold basins of a thousand drachmas, and two utensils of fine polished bronze, precious as gold.
28. And I said to them, “You are set-apart to יהוה, and the objects are set-apart. And the silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to יהוה Elohim of your fathers.
29. “Watch and guard them until you weigh them before the leaders of the priests and the Lĕwites and heads of the fathers’ houses of Yisra’ĕl in Yerushalayim, in the rooms of the House of יהוה.”