Ezra 1-4

New Life Version

Cyrus Lets the Jews Return

1 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the words of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah came true. The Lord worked in the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he made it known through all his nation, and also put it in writing, saying, ² “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the nations of the earth. He has chosen me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ³ Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build again the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. He is the God Who is in Jerusalem. ⁴ Let each one who is still alive, at whatever place he may live, be helped by the men of his place with silver and gold and with good things and cattle. Let the men also give a free-will gift for the house of God in Jerusalem.’”

⁵ Then the leaders of the family groups of Judah and Benjamin and the religious leaders and Levites stood up, everyone in whose spirit the Lord had worked to go up and build the Lord’s house in Jerusalem again. ⁶ All those around them helped them with gifts of silver, gold, good things, cattle, and things worth much money, besides all that was given as a free-will gift. ⁷ King Cyrus brought out the objects of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods. ⁸ King Cyrus of Persia had them brought out by Mithredath, the man who took care of the nation’s riches. And he numbered them as he handed them over to Sheshbazzar, the leader of Judah. ⁹ This was their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 other dishes, ¹⁰ 30 gold pots, 410 silver pots, and 1,000 other objects. ¹¹ There were 5,400 objects of gold and silver in all. Sheshbazzar brought all of them back when the people who had been taken away went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Families Who Returned

2 These are the people who left the land of Babylon and returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own city. Their families had been taken away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. ² These people returned with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

The number of the men of Israel: ³ 2,172 sons of Parosh, ⁴ 372 sons of Shephatiah, ⁵ 775 sons of Arah, ⁶ 2,812 sons of Pahath-moab of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, ⁷ 1,254 sons of Elam, ⁸ 945 sons of Zattu, ⁹ 760 sons of Zaccai, ¹⁰ 642 sons of Bani, ¹¹ 623 sons of Bebai, ¹² 1,222 sons of Azgad, ¹³ 666 sons of Adonikam, ¹⁴ 2,056 sons of Bigvai, ¹⁵ 454 sons of Adin, ¹⁶ 98 sons of Ater, ¹⁷ 323 sons of Bezai, ¹⁸ 112 sons of Jorah, ¹⁹ 223 sons of Hashum, ²⁰ 95 sons of Gibbar, ²¹ 123 sons of Bethlehem, ²² 56 sons of Netophah, ²³ 128 sons of Anathoth, ²⁴ 42 sons of Azmaveth, ²⁵ 743 sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, ²⁶ 621 sons of Raman and Geba, ²⁷ 122 sons of Michmas, ²⁸ 223 sons of Bethel and Ai, ²⁹ 52 sons of Nebo, ³⁰ 156 sons of Magbish, ³¹ 1,254 sons of the other Elam, ³² 320 sons of Harim, ³³ 725 sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, ³⁴ 345 sons of Jericho, ³⁵ 3,630 sons of Senaah.

³⁶ The religious leaders: 973 sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, ³⁷ 1,052 sons of Immer, ³⁸ 1,247 sons of Pashhur, ³⁹ 1,017 sons of Harim.

⁴⁰ The Levites: 74 sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah. ⁴¹ The singers: 128 sons of Asaph. ⁴² The sons of the gate-keepers: 139 of the sons of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai.

⁴³ The men who worked in the house of the Lord: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴ the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, ⁴⁵ the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, ⁴⁶ the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shalmai, the sons of Hanan, ⁴⁷ the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah, ⁴⁸ the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam, ⁴⁹ the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai, ⁵⁰ the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephisim, ⁵¹ the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵² the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, ⁵³ the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, ⁵⁴ the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha.

⁵⁵ The sons of Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda, ⁵⁶ the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, ⁵⁷ the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Ami. ⁵⁸ All the servants of the house of the Lord, and all the sons of Solomon’s servants, were 392.

⁵⁹ Now these are the men who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer. But they were not able to show that their fathers and they were children of Israel: ⁶⁰ 652 sons of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda. ⁶¹ And the sons of the religious leaders: the sons of Habaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai, who had married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name. ⁶² These men looked for their names among the names of all the families, but could not find them. So they were thought of as being unclean, and were not allowed to work as religious leaders. ⁶³ And the leader told them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a religious leader learned God’s will by the Urim and Thummin.

⁶⁴ There were 42,360 people in all, ⁶⁵ besides the 7,337 men servants and women servants, and 200 singing men and women. ⁶⁶ They had 736 horses, 245 mules, ⁶⁷ 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys.

⁶⁸ When they came to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the family groups gave a free-will gift for the house of God to be built again on the same place. ⁶⁹ As they were able, they gave 61,000 gold-pieces and 5,000 silverpieces and 100 coats for the religious leaders, for the work to be done.

⁷⁰ So the religious leaders, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gate-keepers and the servants of the Lord’s house lived in their own cities, and all Israel lived in their cities.

Worship Begins

3 When the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man in Jerusalem. ² Then Jozadak’s son Jeshua and his brothers the religious leaders, and Shealtiel’s son Zerubbabel and his brothers, built the altar of the God of Israel, to give burnt gifts on it. They did this as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God. ³ So they set up the altar in its place, for they were afraid because of the peoples of the lands. On it they gave burnt gifts in worship to the Lord morning and evening. ⁴ They kept the Special Supper of Tents, as it is written. They gave the right number of burnt gifts every day by the Law, as was needed for each day. ⁵ After that they gave the gifts to be burned day and night and for the new moons, and for all the special times of the Lord, and the gifts from every one who brought a free-will gift to the Lord. ⁶ From the first day of the seventh month they began to give burnt gifts to the Lord. But the house of the Lord had not begun to be built. ⁷ So they gave money to the men who worked with stone and wood. They gave food, drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians so the cedar wood could be brought from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, as King Cyrus of Persia had allowed them.

Work on the House of God Begins

⁸ In the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the religious leaders and Levites, and all who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, began the work. And they chose the Levites from twenty years old and older to watch over the work of the Lord’s house. ⁹ Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, together watched over the workmen in the house of God. ¹⁰ When the builders had begun building the house of the Lord, the religious leaders stood in their religious clothing blowing horns. The Levites, the sons of Asaph, stood with brass noise-makers. And they praised the Lord, as they had been told by King David of Israel. ¹¹ They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His loving-kindness is upon Israel forever.” All the people called out with a loud voice when they praised the Lord because the work on the house of the Lord had begun. ¹² But many of the religious leaders and Levites and heads of the family groups were old men who had seen the first house of the Lord. And they cried with a loud voice when the work of this house was begun in front of their eyes. But many called out for joy in a loud voice. ¹³ The people could not tell the difference between the sound of joy and the sound of crying. For the people called out with a loud voice, and the sound was heard far away.

People of the Land Try to Keep the Jews from Building

4 Now those who hated Judah and Benjamin heard that the people had returned from Babylon and were building a house of worship to the Lord God of Israel. ² They came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the family groups and said to them, “Let us build with you. For we worship your God as you do. We have been giving gifts to Him since the days of King Esar-haddon of Assyria, who brought us here.” ³ But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the family groups of Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God. But we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus of Persia has told us to do.” ⁴ Then the people of the land made the hearts of the people of Judah weak, and made them afraid to go on building. ⁵ They paid people to speak against them and to make trouble in their plans all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the rule of King Darius of Persia.

People of the Land Do Not Want Jerusalem Built Up Again

⁶ In the beginning of Ahasuerus’ rule, people of the land wrote that the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem had done something wrong.

⁷ During Artaxerxes’ rule, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of their friends wrote to King Artaxerxes of Persia. The letter was written in the Aramaic language. ⁸ Rehum the captain and Shimshai the writer wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes. ⁹ It was written by Rehum the captain and Shimshai the writer and the rest of their friends, the judges, the leaders and important men, the men of Erech, Babylon, Shusha (that is, the Elamites), ¹⁰ and the rest of the nations. The people of these nations were sent away by the great and honored Osnappar, and made their home in the city of Samaria and in the rest of the land on the other side of the Euphrates River. Now ¹¹ this is what they said in their letter to him: “To King Artaxerxes, your servants, the men in the land on the other side of the River, ¹² let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to Jerusalem. They are building again the sinful city that is not willing to be ruled. They are finishing the walls and beginning the work on the buildings. ¹³ Now let it be known to the king that, if that city is built again and the walls are finished, they will not pay what should be paid to the king. The taxes paid to the king will be less. ¹⁴ We are under the care of the king, and it is not right for us to see the king not being honored. So we have sent to let the king know. ¹⁵ Look through the books kept by your fathers. You will find from these books that Jerusalem is not willing to be ruled, and that it is a danger to kings and lands. They have turned against kings in past times, and this is why that city was laid waste. ¹⁶ We are letting the king know that, if that city is built again and the walls are finished, you will own nothing in the land on the other side of the River.”

¹⁷ The king sent an answer to Rehum the captain, Shimshai the writer, and to the rest of their friends who live in Samaria and in the rest of the land on the other side of the River. He wrote: “Peace. ¹⁸ The letter you sent to us has been put into our language and read to me. ¹⁹ I have had men look through the books. And it has been found that the city has turned against kings in past times, and that plans against kings have been made in it. ²⁰ Powerful kings have ruled over Jerusalem, who ruled over all the lands on the other side of the River, and taxes were paid to them. ²¹ So give word to these men to make them stop the work. This city may not be built again until I allow it. ²² Be sure that you do this. Why should more trouble be given to the kings?”

²³ When the letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the writer and their friends, they went in a hurry to the Jews at Jerusalem and with their power made them stop. ²⁴ Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped. It was stopped until the second year of the rule of Darius king of Persia.