Ezra 1–3

CHAPTER 1

The Proclamation of Cyrus

^1aNow in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to complete the word of ¹Yahweh from the mouth of Jeremiah—Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he ^bhad a proclamation pass throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying:

²“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,

‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and ^aHe has appointed 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 rebuild the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel; ^aHe is the God who is in Jerusalem.

⁴‘So everyone who remains, at whatever place he may sojourn, let the men of ¹that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

Articles from Yahweh’s House Brought to Jerusalem

⁵Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, ^athat is of everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem.

⁶All those around them ^1astrengthened them with articles of silver, with gold, with possessions, with cattle, and with precious things, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering.

^7aAlso King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of Yahweh, ^bwhich Nebuchadnezzar had brought out from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods;

⁸and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to ^aSheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

⁹Now this was their number: 30 ^agold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 ¹duplicates;

¹⁰30 gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind and 1,000 other articles.

¹¹All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 2

The Exiles Who Returned

^1aNow these are the ¹people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had taken away into exile to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city.

²¹These came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, ²Seraiah, ³Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, ⁴Mispar, Bigvai, ⁵Rehum, and Baanah.

The number of the men of the people of Israel:

³the sons of Parosh, 2,172;

⁴the sons of Shephatiah, 372;

⁵the sons of ^aArah, 775;

⁶the sons of ^aPahath-moab of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812;

⁷the sons of Elam, 1,254;

⁸the sons of Zattu, 945;

⁹the sons of Zaccai, 760;

¹⁰the sons of ¹Bani, 642;

¹¹the sons of Bebai, 623;

¹²the sons of Azgad, 1,222;

¹³the sons of ^aAdonikam, 666;

¹⁴the sons of Bigvai, 2,056;

¹⁵the sons of Adin, 454;

¹⁶the sons of Ater of Hezekiah, 98;

¹⁷the sons of Bezai, 323;

¹⁸the sons of ¹Jorah, 112;

¹⁹the sons of Hashum, 223;

²⁰the sons of ¹Gibbar, 95;

²¹the sons of ^aBethlehem, 123;

²²the men of Netophah, 56;

²³the men of Anathoth, 128;

²⁴the sons of ¹Azmaveth, 42;

²⁵the sons of ¹Kiriath-arim, Chephirah and Beeroth, 743;

²⁶the sons of ^aRamah and Geba, 621;

²⁷the men of Michmas, 122;

²⁸the men of Bethel and Ai, 223;

²⁹the sons of Nebo, 52;

³⁰the sons of Magbish, 156;

³¹the sons of the other Elam, 1,254;

³²the sons of Harim, 320;

³³the sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono, 725;

³⁴the ¹men of ^aJericho, 345;

³⁵the sons of Senaah, 3,630.

^36aThe priests: the sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973;

³⁷the sons of ^aImmer, 1,052;

^38athe sons of Pashhur, 1,247;

³⁹the sons of ^aHarim, 1,017.

⁴⁰The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of ¹Hodaviah, 74.

⁴¹The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128.

⁴²The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, in all 139.

⁴³The ^atemple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth,

⁴⁴the sons of Keros, the sons of ¹Siaha, the sons of Padon,

⁴⁵the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub,

⁴⁶the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shalmai, the sons of Hanan,

⁴⁷the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah,

⁴⁸the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam,

⁴⁹the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai,

⁵⁰the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of ¹Nephisim,

⁵¹the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur,

⁵²the sons of ¹Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha,

⁵³the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah,

⁵⁴the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha.

⁵⁵The sons of ^aSolomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of ¹Hassophereth, the sons of ²Peruda,

⁵⁶the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel,

⁵⁷the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of ¹Ami.

⁵⁸All the ^atemple servants and the sons of ^bSolomon’s servants were 392.

⁵⁹Now these are those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, ¹Addan, and Immer, but they were not able to declare their fathers’ households and their fathers’ seed, whether they were of Israel:

⁶⁰the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 652.

⁶¹Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of ^aBarzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name.

⁶²These searched in their genealogical records, but they could not be found; ^atherefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood.

⁶³The ¹governor said to them ^athat they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood with ^bUrim and Thummim.

⁶⁴The whole assembly together was 42,360,

⁶⁵besides their male and female slaves of whom there were 7,337; and they had 200 ^amale and female singers.

⁶⁶Their horses were 736; their mules, 245;

⁶⁷their camels, 435; their donkeys, 6,720.

⁶⁸Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they arrived at the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem, gave a freewill offering for the house of God to ¹restore it on its foundation.

⁶⁹According to their ability, they gave ^ato the treasury for the work 61,000 gold ¹drachmas and 5,000 silver ²minas and 100 priestly tunics.

^70aSo 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.

CHAPTER 3

The Altar is Built and Daily Offerings Begin

¹Then the seventh month came, and ^athe sons of Israel were in the cities. And the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.

²Then ^aJeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and ^bZerubbabel the son ^cof Shealtiel and his brothers arose and ^dbuilt the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, ^eas it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.

³So they set up the altar on its foundation, for ^1athey were terrified because of the peoples of the lands; and they ^boffered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, burnt offerings morning and evening.

⁴They celebrated the ^aFeast of ¹Booths, ^bas it is written, and offered ²the fixed number of burnt offerings daily, ^caccording to the legal judgment, as each day required;

⁵and afterward there was a ^acontinual burnt offering, also ^bfor the new moons and ^cfor all the appointed times of Yahweh that were set apart as holy, and from everyone who offered a freewill offering to Yahweh.

⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh, but the foundation of the temple of Yahweh had not been laid.

⁷Then they gave money to the masons and ¹carpenters, and ^afood, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyrians, ^bto bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at ^cJoppa, according to the permission they had ²from ^dCyrus king of Persia.

The Foundation of the Temple of Yahweh

⁸Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month, ^aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and 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 ^bappointed the Levites from twenty years and older to direct the work of the house of Yahweh.

⁹Then ^aJeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of ¹Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to direct those who do the work in the house of God.

¹⁰So the builders ^alaid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh. Then ¹the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise Yahweh ^baccording to the ²directions of King David of Israel.

^11aAnd they sang, praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, saying, “^bFor He is good, for His lovingkindness endures forever upon Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised Yahweh because the foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid.

¹²Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, ^athe old men who had seen the first house of Yahweh, were weeping with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many in loud shouts with gladness were raising their voice,

¹³so that the people could not distinguish the ¹voices of the shouting of gladness from the ²voices of the weeping of the people, for the people were shouting with a loud shout, and those ³voices were heard far away.