Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 126
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IMMERSE
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CHRONICLES
8:18-33
the leader of the Levites at Casiphia, to ask him and his relatives and the
Temple servants to send us ministers for the Temple of God at Jerusalem.
Since the gracious hand of our God was on us, they sent us a man named
Sherebiah, along with eighteen of his sons and brothers. He was a very
astute man and a descendant of Mahli, who was a descendant of Levi son
of Israel. They also sent Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, and twenty of his sons and brothers, and 220 Temple
servants. The Temple servants were assistants to the Levites—a group of
Temple workers first instituted by King David and his officials. They were
all listed by name.
And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and
humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe
journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled. For I
was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us
and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king,
“Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce
anger rages against those who abandon him.” So we fasted and earnestly
prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.
I appointed twelve leaders of the priests—Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and
ten other p riests—to be in charge of transporting the silver, the gold, the
gold bowls, and the other items that the king, his council, his officials, and
all the people of Israel had presented for the Temple of God. I weighed the
treasure as I gave it to them and found the totals to be as follows:
24 tons of silver,
7,500 pounds of silver articles,
7,500 pounds of gold,
20 gold bowls, equal in value to 1,000 gold coins,
2 fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.
And I said to these priests, “You and these treasures have been set apart
as holy to the Lord. This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the
Lord, the God of our ancestors. Guard these treasures well until you pre
sent them to the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of Israel, who
will weigh them at the storerooms of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem.” So
the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting these treasures of silver and gold to the Temple of our God in Jerusalem.
We broke camp at the Ahava Canal on April 19 and started off to Je
rusalem. And the gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us
from enemies and bandits along the way. So we arrived safely in Jerusalem,
where we rested for three days.
On the fourth day after our arrival, the silver, gold, and other valuables
were weighed at the Temple of our God and entrusted to Meremoth son
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