Cyrus’ Proclamation

1 ^(A)Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he ^(B)sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, 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 kingdoms of the earth, and ^(C)He has appointed me to rebuild for 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! ^[a]Go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; ^(D)He is the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴ And every survivor, at whatever place he may ^[b]live, the people of ^[c]that place are to support him with silver and gold, with equipment and cattle, together with a ^[d]voluntary offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

Holy Vessels Restored

⁵ Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites rose up, ^(E)everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. ⁶ And all of those around them ^[e](F)encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with equipment, cattle, and with valuables, aside from everything that was given as a ^[f]voluntary offering. ^7 (G)Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, ^(H)which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; ⁸ and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to ^(I)Sheshbazzar, the leader of Judah. ⁹ Now this was their number: thirty ^(J)gold dishes, a thousand silver dishes, twenty nine ^[g]duplicates; ¹⁰ thirty gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind, and a thousand other articles. ¹¹ All the articles of gold and silver totaled 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Number of Those Returning

2 ^(A)Now these are the ^[a]people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had taken into exile to Babylon, and they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city. ^2 [b]These came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, ^[c]Seraiah, ^[d]Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, ^[e]Mispar, Bigvai, ^[f]Rehum, and Baanah.

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

Priests Returning

^36 (H)The priests: the sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973; ³⁷ the sons of ^(I)Immer, 1,052; ^38 (J)the sons of Pashhur, 1,247; ³⁹ the sons of ^(K)Harim, 1,017.

Levites Returning

⁴⁰ The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of ^[n]Hodaviah, 74. ⁴¹ The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128. ⁴² The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, and the sons of Shobai, 139 in all.

⁴³ The ^(L)temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴ the sons of Keros, the sons of ^[o]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 ^[p]Nephisim, ⁵¹ the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵² the sons of ^[q]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, and the sons of Hatipha.

⁵⁵ The sons of ^(M)Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of ^[r]Hassophereth, the sons of ^[s]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, and the sons of ^[t]Ami.

⁵⁸ All the ^(N)temple servants and the sons of ^(O)Solomon’s servants totaled 392.

⁵⁹ Now these were the ones who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, ^[u]Addan, and Immer, but they were not able to ^[v]provide evidence of their fathers’ households and their ^[w]descendants, whether they were of Israel: ⁶⁰ the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nekoda, 652.

Priests Removed

⁶¹ Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of ^(P)Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name. ⁶² These searched among their genealogical registration but they could not be located; ^(Q)so they were considered defiled and excluded from the priesthood. ⁶³ The ^[x]governor said to them ^(R)that they were not to eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with ^(S)Urim and Thummim.

⁶⁴ The whole assembly together totaled 42,360, ⁶⁵ besides their male and female slaves ^[y]who totaled 7,337; and they had two hundred ^(T)singing men and women. ⁶⁶ Their horses numbered 736; their mules, 245; ⁶⁷ their camels, 435; their donkeys, 6,720.

⁶⁸ Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they arrived at the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to erect it on its site. ⁶⁹ According to their ability they gave ^(U)to the treasury for the work sixty-one thousand gold drachmas, five thousand silver minas, and a hundred priestly ^[z]garments.

^70 (V)Now the priests and the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

Altar and Sacrifices Restored

3 Now when the seventh month came, and ^(A)the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one person to Jerusalem. ² Then ^(B)Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and ^(C)Zerubbabel the son ^(D)of Shealtiel and his brothers, rose up and ^(E)built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, ^(F)as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God. ³ So they set up the altar on its foundation, because ^[a](G)they were terrified of the peoples of the lands; and they ^(H)offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. ⁴ They also celebrated the ^(I)Feast of ^[b]Booths, ^(J)as it is written, and offered ^[c]the prescribed number of burnt offerings daily, ^(K)according to the ordinance, ^[d]as each day required; ⁵ and afterward there was a ^(L)continual burnt offering, also ^(M)for the new moons and ^(N)for all the appointed festivals of the Lord that were consecrated, and from everyone who offered a ^[e]voluntary offering to the Lord. ⁶ From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. ⁷ Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and ^(O)food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians ^(P)to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at ^(Q)Joppa, according to the permission they had ^[f]from ^(R)Cyrus king of Persia.

Temple Restoration Begun

⁸ Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, ^(S)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and ^(T)appointed the Levites who were twenty years old and upward to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹ Then ^(U)Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of ^[g]Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God.

¹⁰ Now when the builders had ^(V)laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, ^[h]the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord ^(W)according to the ^[i]directions of King David of Israel. ¹¹ And ^(X)they sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, “^(Y)For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever.” And all the people shouted with a great shout of joy when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹² Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, ^(Z)the old men who had seen the first ^[j]temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³ so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, because the people were shouting with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.