Ezra 6

Revised Geneva Translation

6 Then King Darius gave commandment. And they searched in the library of the treasures which were laid up there in Babel.

² And a volume was found in a coffer (in the palace that was in the province of the Medes). And a memorial was written in it:

³ “IN THE FIRST year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus made a decree for the House of God in Jerusalem: ‘Let the House be built, the place where they offered Sacrifices. And let its walls be joined together. Let its height be sixty cubits, and its width sixty cubits,

⁴ ‘with three rows of great stones, and one row of timber. And let the expenses be given from the king’s house.

⁵ ‘And also let them render the vessels of the House of God (from gold and silver which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the Temple which was in Jerusalem and brought to Babel). And let each go to the Temple in Jerusalem to its place and put it in the House of God.’

⁶ “Therefore Tattenai, captain beyond the river, and Shethar-Boznai, (and their companions, Apharsecai, who are beyond the River) stay far from there.

⁷ “Allow the work of this House of God, so that the captain of the Jews and the elders of the Jews may build this House of God in its place.

⁸ “For I have given a commandment as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews for the building of this House of God: that the revenue of the king which is from the tribute beyond the River shall immediately be given for these men’s expenses, so that they do not cease.

⁹ “And that which they shall have need of, let it be given to them day by day, whether it be young bulls, or rams, or lambs for the Burnt Offerings of the God of Heaven, or wheat, salt, wine and oil, according to the appointment of the priests who are in Jerusalem, without fail,

¹⁰ “so that they may have sweet odors to offer to the God of Heaven, and pray for the king’s life and for his sons.

¹¹ “And I have made a decree that whoever shall alter this edict shall have the wood pulled down from his house. And it shall be set up, and he shall be hanged on it. And his house shall be made a dunghill for this.

¹² “And may the God Who has caused His Name to dwell there destroy all kings and people who make it their intention to alter and to destroy this House of God, which is in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have made a decree. Let it be done with speed.”

¹³ Then Tattenai, the captain beyond the River, and Shethar-Boznai and their companions, did according to that which Darius had sent, speedily.

¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews built. And they prospered by the prophesying of Haggai the Prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, by the appointment of the God of Israel, and by the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.

¹⁵ And this House was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

¹⁶ And the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity kept the dedication of this House of God with joy,

¹⁷ and offered one hundred bulls at the dedication of this House of God, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve goats, for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁸ And they set the priests in their order, and the Levites in their divisions, over the service of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.

¹⁹ And the children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month,

²⁰ for the priests and the Levites were purified altogether. And they killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren, the priests, and for themselves.

²¹ So, the children of Israel who had come back out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land to seek the LORD God of Israel, ate.

²² And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy. For the LORD had made them glad and turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to encourage them in the work of the House of God, the God of Israel.