I assembled them at the river that flows toward Ahava. We camped there for three days, and I observed the people and the kohanim, but I did not find any Levites there.
We also notify you that you have no authority to impose tribute, tax or duty on any of the kohanim, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, sanctuary servants, or attendants at this House of God.
and who has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and all the king’s mighty princes. I gained strength, as the hand of Adonai my God was upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.
Some of Bnei-Yisrael and some of the kohanim, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the sanctuary servants also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.
So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, who were leaders and for Joiarib and Elnatan who were men of learning.
Then I proclaimed a fast there at the Ahava River so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from Him a straight way for us, our little ones, and all of our possessions.
Then we set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the way.
In the thirtieth year on the fifth day of the fourth month, as I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens opened, and I saw visions of God.
On Yom Shabbat, we went outside the gate to the river, where we expected a place of prayer to be. We sat down and began speaking with the women who had gathered.