Ezra 1–3

End of the Babylonian Captivity

1Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord ^aby the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, ^bso that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,

²Thus says Cyrus king of Persia:

All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has ^ccommanded me to build Him a ¹house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. ³Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel ^d(He is God), which is in Jerusalem. ⁴And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.

⁵Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits ^eGod ²had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. ⁶And all those who were around them ³encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things, besides all that was ^fwillingly offered.

^7gKing Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, ^hwhich Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the ⁴temple of his gods; ⁸and Cyrus king of Persia brought them out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to ⁱSheshbazzar the prince of Judah. ⁹This is the number of them: thirty gold platters, one thousand silver platters, twenty-nine knives, ¹⁰thirty gold basins, four hundred and ten silver basins of a similar kind, and one thousand other articles. ¹¹All the articles of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar took with the captives who were brought from Babylon to Jerusalem.

The Captives Who Returned to Jerusalem

2Now ^athese are the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, ^bwhom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city.

²Those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, ¹Seraiah, ²Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, ³Mispar, Bigvai, ⁴Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: ³the people of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two; ⁴the people of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two; ⁵the people of Arah, ^cseven hundred and seventy-five; ⁶the people of ^dPahath-Moab, of the people of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve; ⁷the people of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; ⁸the people of Zattu, nine hundred and forty-five; ⁹the people of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty; ¹⁰the people of ⁵Bani, six hundred and forty-two; ¹¹the people of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-three; ¹²the people of Azgad, one thousand two hundred and twenty-two; ¹³the people of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six; ¹⁴the people of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-six; ¹⁵the people of Adin, four hundred and fifty-four; ¹⁶the people of Ater of Hezekiah, ninety-eight; ¹⁷the people of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-three; ¹⁸the people of ⁶Jorah, one hundred and twelve; ¹⁹the people of Hashum, two hundred and twenty-three; ²⁰the people of ⁷Gibbar, ninety-five; ²¹the people of Bethlehem, one hundred and twenty-three; ²²the men of Netophah, fifty-six; ²³the men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight; ²⁴the people of ⁸Azmaveth, forty-two; ²⁵the people of ⁹Kirjath Arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three; ²⁶the people of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one; ²⁷the men of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two; ²⁸the men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred and twenty-three; ²⁹the people of Nebo, fifty-two; ³⁰the people of Magbish, one hundred and fifty-six; ³¹the people of the other ^eElam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; ³²the people of Harim, three hundred and twenty; ³³the people of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-five; ³⁴the people of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five; ³⁵the people of Senaah, three thousand six hundred and thirty.

³⁶The priests: the sons of ^fJedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three; ³⁷the sons of ^gImmer, one thousand and fifty-two; ³⁸the sons of ^hPashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven; ³⁹the sons of ⁱHarim, one thousand and seventeen.

⁴⁰The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of ¹Hodaviah, seventy-four.

⁴¹The singers: the sons of Asaph, one hundred and twenty-eight.

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, and the sons of Shobai, one hundred and thirty-nine in all.

^43jThe Nethinim: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴the sons of Keros, the sons of ²Siaha, 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 ³Nephusim, ⁵¹the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵²the sons of ⁴Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, ⁵³the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Tamah, ⁵⁴the sons of Neziah, and the sons of Hatipha.

⁵⁵The sons of ^kSolomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of ^lSophereth, the sons of ⁵Peruda, ⁵⁶the sons of Jaala, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, ⁵⁷the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth of Zebaim, and the sons of ⁶Ami. ⁵⁸All the ^mNethinim and the children of ⁿSolomon’s servants were three hundred and ninety-two.

⁵⁹And these were the ones who came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, ⁷Addan, and Immer; but they could not ⁸identify their father’s house or their ⁹genealogy, whether they were of Israel: ⁶⁰the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nekoda, six hundred and fifty-two; ⁶¹and of the sons of the priests: the sons of ^oHabaiah, the sons of ¹Koz, and the sons of ^pBarzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name. ⁶²These sought their listing among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found; ^qtherefore they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled. ⁶³And the ²governor said to them that they ^rshould not eat of the most holy things till a priest could consult with the ^sUrim and Thummim.

^64tThe whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, ⁶⁵besides their male and female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred men and women singers. ⁶⁶Their horses were seven hundred and thirty-six, their mules two hundred and forty-five, ⁶⁷their camels four hundred and thirty-five, and their donkeys six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

^68uSome of the heads of the fathers’ houses, when they came to the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God, to erect it in its place: ⁶⁹According to their ability, they gave to the ^vtreasury for the work sixty-one thousand gold drachmas, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priestly garments.

^70wSo the priests and the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim, dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

Worship Restored at Jerusalem

3And when the ^aseventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. ²Then ¹Jeshua the son of ^bJozadak ²and his brethren the priests, ^cand Zerubbabel the son of ^dShealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is ^ewritten in the Law of Moses the man of God. ³Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its ³bases; and they offered ^fburnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings. ^4gThey also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, ^has it is written, and ⁱoffered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day. ⁵Afterwards they offered the ^jregular burnt offering, and those for New Moons and for all the appointed feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and those of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord. ⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. ⁷They also gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and ^kfood, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, to ^lJoppa, ^maccording to the permission which they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Restoration of the Temple Begins

⁸Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, ⁿZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of ⁴Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work ^oand appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, and the sons of ⁵Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

¹⁰When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, ^pthe ⁶priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ^qordinance ⁷of David king of Israel.…