22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of foot and horse soldiers to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all who seek Him for good, but His power and His wrath are against all who forsake Him.”
23 So we fasted and sought our God for this, and He was moved by our prayers.
24 Then I separated twelve of the presiding priests—Sherebiah and Hashabiah, along with ten of their brothers—
25 and weighed out to them the silver, the gold, the vessels, as well as the contribution collected for the house of our God by the king, his counselors, his lords, in conjunction with what all Israel had offered.
26 I weighed out into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, silver articles worth one hundred talents, one hundred talents of gold,
27 twenty gold bowls worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine shining bronze, precious as gold.
28 I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord. The vessels are holy also. The silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers.