Ezra 5–6

5^*At that time two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo, began to speak in the name of the God of Israel to the Jews who lived in Judah and Jerusalem. ^2*When Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak heard their messages, they began to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, and the two prophets helped them.

³Almost at once Tattenai, governor of West Euphrates, Shethar Bozenai, and their fellow-officials came to Jerusalem and demanded: “Who gave you orders to build this Temple and equip it?” ⁴They^j also asked for the names of all the men who were helping to build the Temple. ⁵But God was watching over the Jewish leaders, and the Persian officials decided to take no action until they could write to Darius and receive a reply. ⁶This is the report that they sent to the emperor:

⁷“To Emperor Darius, may you rule in peace.

⁸“Your Majesty should know that we went to the province of Judah and found that the Temple of the great God is being rebuilt with large stone blocks and with wooden beams set in the wall. The work is being done with great care and is moving ahead steadily.

⁹“We then asked the leaders of the people to tell us who had given them authority to rebuild the Temple and to equip it. ¹⁰We also asked them their names so that we could inform you who the leaders of this work are.

¹¹“They answered, ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the Temple which was originally built and equipped many years ago by a powerful king of Israel. ^12*But because our ancestors made the God of Heaven angry, he let them be conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, a king of the Chaldean dynasty. The Temple was destroyed, and the people were taken into exile in Babylonia. ^13*Then in the first year of the reign of King Cyrus as emperor of Babylonia, Cyrus issued orders for the Temple to be rebuilt. ¹⁴He restored the gold and silver temple utensils which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem and had placed in the temple in Babylon. Cyrus handed these utensils over to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor of Judah. ¹⁵The emperor told him to take them and return them to the Temple in Jerusalem, and to rebuild the Temple where it had stood before. ¹⁶So Sheshbazzar came and laid its foundation; construction has continued from then until the present, but the Temple is still not finished.’ ¹⁷“Now, if it please Your Majesty, let a search be made in the royal records in Babylon to find whether or not Cyrus gave orders for this Temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and then inform us what your will is in this matter.”

Cyrus’ Order Is Rediscovered

6So Darius the emperor issued orders for a search to be made in the royal records that were kept in Babylon. ²But it was in the city of Ecbatana in the province of Media that a scroll was found, containing the following record:

³“In the first year of his reign Cyrus the emperor commanded that the Temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are made and offerings are burnt. The Temple is to be 27 metres high and 27 metres wide. ⁴The walls are to be built with one layer of wood on top of every three layers of stone. All expenses are to be paid by the royal treasury. ⁵Also the gold and silver utensils which King Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon from the Temple in Jerusalem are to be returned to their proper place in the Jerusalem Temple.”

Darius Orders the Work to Continue

⁶Then Darius sent the following reply:

“To Tattenai, governor of West Euphrates, Shethar Bozenai, and your fellow-officials in West Euphrates.

“Stay away from the Temple ⁷and do not interfere with its construction. Let the governor of Judah and the Jewish leaders rebuild the Temple of God where it stood before. ⁸I hereby command you to help them rebuild it. Their expenses are to be paid promptly out of the royal funds received from taxes in West Euphrates, so that the work is not interrupted. ⁹Day by day, without fail, you are to give the priests in Jerusalem whatever they tell you they need: young bulls, sheep, or lambs to be burnt as offerings to the God of Heaven, or wheat, salt, wine, or olive oil. ¹⁰This is to be done so that they can offer sacrifices that are acceptable to the God of Heaven and pray for his blessing on me and my sons. ¹¹I further command that if anyone disobeys this order, a wooden beam is to be torn out of his house, sharpened at one end, and then driven through his body. And his house is to be made a rubbish heap. ¹²May the God who chose Jerusalem as the place where he is to be worshipped overthrow any king or nation that defies this command and tries to destroy the Temple there. I, Darius, have given this order. It is to be fully obeyed.”

The Temple Is Dedicated

¹³Then Tattenai the governor, Shethar Bozenai, and their fellow-officials did exactly as the emperor had commanded. ^14*The Jewish leaders made good progress with the building of the Temple, encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. They completed the Temple as they had been commanded by the God of Israel and by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, emperors of Persia. ¹⁵They finished the Temple on the third day of the month Adar in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the emperor. ¹⁶Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites, and all the others who had returned from exile—joyfully dedicated the Temple. ¹⁷For the dedication they offered a hundred bulls, 200 sheep, and 400 lambs as sacrifices, and twelve goats as offerings for sin, one for each tribe of Israel. ¹⁸They also organized the priests and the Levites for the temple services in Jerusalem, according to the instructions contained in the book of Moses.

The Passover

^19*The people who had returned from exile celebrated Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month of the following year. ²⁰All the priests and the Levites had purified themselves and were ritually clean. The Levites killed the animals for the Passover sacrifices for all the people who had returned, for the priests, and for themselves. ²¹The sacrifices were eaten by all the Israelites who had returned from exile and by all those who had given up the pagan ways of the other people who were living in the land and who had come to worship the Lord God of Israel. ²²For seven days they joyfully celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread. They were full of joy because the Lord had made the emperor of Assyria^k favourable to them, so that he supported them in their work of rebuilding the Temple of the God of Israel.