¹⁰ “Collect silver and gold^[a] from the exiles—from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah—who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah.^(A)

¹⁴ For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your hand,^{(A) 15} and also to convey the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,^{(B) 16} with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, given willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem.^(C)

²⁶ I weighed out into their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver, and one hundred silver vessels worth . . . talents,^[a] and one hundred talents of gold,^{(A) 27} twenty gold bowls worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine polished bronze as precious as gold. ²⁸ And I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your ancestors.^{(B) 29} Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of families in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the Lord.”^{(C) 30} So the priests and the Levites took over the silver, the gold, and the vessels as they were weighed out, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

²⁵ At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints,^{(A) 26} for Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.^(B)

¹⁷ Now after some years I came to bring alms to my people and to offer sacrifices.^(A)

⁶ and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill the words that you have prophesied and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord and all the exiles.^(A)

²⁰ They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.^(A)