Ezra 5–6

CHAPTER 5

Rebuilding the House of God Begins Again

¹And the prophets, ^aHaggai the prophet and ^bZechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.

²Then ^aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and ^bthe prophets of God were with them supporting them.

³At that time ^aTattenai, the governor of the province beyond the ¹River, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues came to them and spoke to them thus, “^bWho issued you a decree to rebuild this house and to complete this structure?”

^4aThen we told them accordingly what the names of the men were who were rebuilding this building.

⁵But ^athe eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report could come to Darius, and then a document be returned concerning this.

Tattenai and Others Write to King Darius

⁶This is the copy of the letter which ^aTattenai, the governor of the province beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and his colleagues ^bthe officials, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king.

⁷They sent word to him in which it was written thus:

“To Darius the king, all peace.

⁸“Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, and it is being built with huge stones, and timber is being put within the walls; and that work is going on with all diligence and is succeeding in their hands.

⁹“Then we asked those elders and said to them thus, ‘Who issued you a decree to rebuild this house and to complete this structure?’

¹⁰“And we also asked them their names in order to make known to you, and that we might write down the names of the men who were at their head.

¹¹“Thus they responded with a word to us, saying,

‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, ^awhich a great king of Israel built and completed.

¹²‘But ^abecause our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, ^bHe gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and took the people away into exile in Babylon.

¹³‘However, ^ain the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus ^bissued a decree to rebuild this house of God.

¹⁴‘Also ^athe gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple ¹in Jerusalem and brought them to the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took out from the temple of Babylon, and they were given to one ^bwhose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor.

¹⁵‘He said to him, “Take these articles, go and deposit them in the temple ¹in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt in its place.”

¹⁶‘Then that Sheshbazzar came and ^alaid the foundations of the house of God ¹in Jerusalem; and from then until now it is being rebuilt, and it is ^bnot yet finished.’

¹⁷“So now if it seems good to the king, ^alet a search be made in the king’s treasure house, which is there in Babylon, if it be that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to rebuild that house of God in Jerusalem; and let the king send to us his will concerning this matter.”

CHAPTER 6

The Scroll with Cyrus’ Decree is Found

¹Then King Darius issued a decree, and a ^asearch was made in the ¹archives, where the treasures were deposited in Babylon.

²And in ¹Ecbatana in the fortress, which is ^ain the province of Media, a scroll was found and there was written in it as follows:

“Memorandum—

³“^aIn the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree:

‘Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let that house, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be ¹retained, its height being ²60 cubits and its width 60 cubits;

^4awith three layers of huge stones and ¹one layer of timbers. And let the cost be given from the ²royal treasury.

⁵‘And also let ^athe gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and ¹brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall deposit them in the house of God.’

⁶“Now ^aTattenai, governor of the province beyond the ¹River, Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues, the officials of the provinces beyond the River, ²keep away from there.

⁷“Leave that work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild that house of God in its designated place.

⁸“Moreover, ^aI issue a decree concerning what you shall do for those elders of Judah in the rebuilding of that house of God: the full cost is to be given to those people from the royal treasury out of the tribute of the provinces beyond the River, and that without negligence.

⁹“Whatever is needed, both young bulls, rams, and lambs for a burnt offering to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and anointing oil, according to what the priests in Jerusalem say, it is to be given to them daily without negligence,

¹⁰that they may bring sweet-smelling sacrifices near to the God of heaven and ^apray for the life of the king and his sons.

¹¹“And I issued a decree that ^aany man who violates this edict, a timber shall be pulled out from his house and he shall be impaled on it and ^bhis house shall be made a refuse heap on account of this.

¹²“May the God who ^ahas caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who ¹stretches out his hand to change it, so as to destroy that house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree, let it be done with all diligence!”

The Dedication of the House of God

¹³Then ^aTattenai, the governor of the province beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues carried out the decree with all diligence, just as King Darius had sent.

¹⁴And ^athe elders of the Jews were building and succeeding through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. So they built and completed it according to the decree of the God of Israel and the decree ^bof Cyrus, ^cDarius, and ^dArtaxerxes king of Persia.

¹⁵And this house was brought to completion ¹on the third day of the ^amonth Adar; it was the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

¹⁶And the sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites and the rest of the ¹exiles, ^acelebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

¹⁷They brought near for the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel ^a12 male goats, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁸Then they appointed the priests to ^atheir sections and the Levites in ^btheir divisions for the service of God ¹in Jerusalem, ^cas it is written in the book of Moses.

Passover Celebrated

^19aAnd the exiles celebrated the Passover on ^bthe fourteenth of the first month.

^20aFor the priests and the Levites had cleansed themselves together; all of them were clean. Then ^bthey slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, both for their brothers the priests and for themselves.

²¹Then the sons of Israel who returned from exile and ^aall those who had separated themselves from ^bthe uncleanness of the nations of the land to join them, to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, ate the Passover.

²²And ^athey celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with gladness, for Yahweh had caused them to be glad and ^bhad turned the heart of ^cthe king of Assyria toward them to ¹strengthen them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.