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.”
30. So the priests and the Lĕwites took the weight of the silver and the gold and the utensils, to bring them to Yerushalayim to the House of our Elohim.
31. Then we set out from the Ahawa River on the twelfth of the first month, to go to Yerushalayim. And the hand of our Elohim was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the way.
32. And when we came to Yerushalayim, we dwelt there three days.
33. And on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils were weighed in the House of our Elohim by the hand of Merĕmoth son of Uriyah the priest, and with him was El‛azar son of Phineḥas. And with them were the Lĕwites, Yozaḇaḏ son of Yĕshua and No‛aḏyah son of Binnui,
34. with the number and weight of all. And all the weight was written down at that time.
35. The sons of the exile, who had come from the captivity, brought burnt offerings to the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl: twelve bulls for all Yisra’ĕl, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering – all as a burnt offering to יהוה.