Casiphia

Casiphia (meaning money or covetousness, possibly related to silver) was a place in Babylonia to which Ezra sent messengers to recruit Levites and temple servants for the return to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:17). The site was home to a community of Levitical ministers under a leader named Iddo. The messengers succeeded in bringing to Ezra thirty-eight Levites and 220 Nethinim (temple servants) to assist with the worship at the restored temple. The precise location of Casiphia is unknown, but it was evidently an established Jewish settlement in the Babylonian exile community where Levitical traditions were maintained.