Ezra 1–3

Chapter 1

Cyrus’s Proclamation

^1aNow in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he ^bsent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying:

²“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, 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 the Lord, the God of Israel; ^aHe is the God who is in Jerusalem.

⁴‘Every survivor, at whatever place he may ¹live, let the men of ²that 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.’ ”

Holy Vessels Restored

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

⁶All those about them ^1aencouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering.

^7aAlso King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, ^bwhich Nebuchadnezzar had carried away 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

Number of Those Returning

^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 carried away to Babylon, and 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 ¹men 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.

Priests Returning

^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.

Levites Returning

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 ²give evidence of their fathers’ households and their ³descendants, whether they were of Israel:

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

Priests Removed

⁶¹Of the sons of the priests: the sons of ¹Habaiah, 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 among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; ^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 up with ^bUrim and Thummim.

⁶⁴The whole assembly ¹numbered 42,360,

⁶⁵besides their male and female servants ¹who numbered 7,337; and they had 200 ^asinging men and women.

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 the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly 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 drachmas and 5,000 silver minas and 100 priestly ¹garments.

^70aNow 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

Altar and Sacrifices Restored

¹Now when the seventh month came, and ^athe sons of Israel were in the cities, 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 the Lord, 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 ordinance, as each day required;

⁵and afterward there was a ^acontinual burnt offering, also ^bfor the new moons and ^cfor all the fixed festivals of the Lord that were consecrated, and from everyone who offered a freewill offering to the Lord.

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

⁷Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, 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 ¹from ^dCyrus king of Persia.

Temple Restoration Begun

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 oversee the work of the house of the Lord.

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 oversee the workmen in the temple of God.

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

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

¹²Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, ^athe old men who had seen the first ¹temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy,

¹³so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.