Ezra 8 begins with a list of the heads of families who came back with Ezra from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:1–14). Following this list, there are details regarding the preparations for the journey. First the exiles gather together (Ezra 8:15), then they send men to Casiphia in order to find Levites who are willing to travel with them (Ezra 8:16–20). Once everyone has arrived, there is a time of fasting and prayer (Ezra 8:21–23), after which Ezra carefully divides the various gold and silver articles amongst the Levites for safekeeping (Ezra 8:24–30). Finally the journey begins (Ezra 8:31). Soon after their arrival in Jerusalem, all the gold and silver are accounted for (Ezra 8:33–34), thanksgiving sacrifices are burnt at the temple (Ezra 8:35), and the orders of the Persian king are delivered to his subjects (Ezra 8:36).
1 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: