In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom:

²“This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:

“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ³Any of you who are his people may go to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. And may your God be with you! ⁴Wherever this Jewish remnant is found, let their neighbors contribute toward their expenses by giving them silver and gold, supplies for the journey, and livestock, as well as a voluntary offering for the Temple of God in Jerusalem.”

⁵Then God stirred the hearts of the priests and Levites and the leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. ⁶And all their neighbors assisted by giving them articles of silver and gold, supplies for the journey, and livestock. They gave them many valuable gifts in addition to all the voluntary offerings.

⁷King Cyrus himself brought out the articles that King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his own gods. ⁸Cyrus directed Mithredath, the treasurer of Persia, to count these items and present them to Sheshbazzar, the leader of the exiles returning to Judah. ⁹This is a list of the items that were returned:

gold basins

silver basins

1,000

silver incense burners

¹⁰

gold bowls

silver bowls

410

other items

1,000

¹¹In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and silver. Sheshbazzar brought all of these along when the exiles went from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Chapter 2 Exiles Who Returned with Zerubbabel

Here is the list of the Jewish exiles of the provinces who returned from their captivity. King Nebuchadnezzar had deported them to Babylon, but now they returned to Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah where they originally lived. ²Their leaders were Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

This is the number of the men of Israel who returned from exile:

The family of Parosh

2,172

⁴

The family of Shephatiah

372

⁵

The family of Arah

775

⁶

The family of Pahath-moab (descendants of Jeshua and Joab)

2,812

⁷

The family of Elam

1,254

⁸

The family of Zattu

945

⁹

The family of Zaccai

760

¹⁰

The family of Bani

642

¹¹

The family of Bebai

623

¹²

The family of Azgad

1,222

¹³

The family of Adonikam

666

¹⁴

The family of Bigvai

2,056

¹⁵

The family of Adin

454

¹⁶

The family of Ater (descendants of Hezekiah)

¹⁷

The family of Bezai

323

¹⁸

The family of Jorah

112

¹⁹

The family of Hashum

223

²⁰

The family of Gibbar

²¹

The people of Bethlehem

123

²²

The people of Netophah

²³

The people of Anathoth

128

²⁴

The people of Beth-azmaveth

²⁵

The people of Kiriath-jearim, Kephirah, and Beeroth

743

²⁶

The people of Ramah and Geba

621

²⁷

The people of Micmash

122

²⁸

The people of Bethel and Ai

223

²⁹

The citizens of Nebo

³⁰

The citizens of Magbish

156

³¹

The citizens of West Elam

1,254

³²

The citizens of Harim

320

³³

The citizens of Lod, Hadid, and Ono

725

³⁴

The citizens of Jericho

345

³⁵

The citizens of Senaah

3,630

³⁶These are the priests who returned from exile:

The family of Jedaiah (through the line of Jeshua)

973

³⁷

The family of Immer

1,052

³⁸

The family of Pashhur

1,247

³⁹

The family of Harim

1,017

⁴⁰These are the Levites who returned from exile:

The families of Jeshua and Kadmiel (descendants of Hodaviah)

⁴¹

The singers of the family of Asaph

128

⁴²

The gatekeepers of the families of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai

139

⁴³The descendants of the following Temple servants returned from exile:

Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,

⁴⁴Keros, Siaha, Padon,

⁴⁵Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,

⁴⁶Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,

⁴⁷Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,

⁴⁸Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,

⁴⁹Uzza, Paseah, Besai,

⁵⁰Asnah, Meunim, Nephusim,

⁵¹Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,

⁵²Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,

⁵³Barkos, Sisera, Temah,

⁵⁴Neziah, and Hatipha.

⁵⁵The descendants of these servants of King Solomon returned from exile:

Sotai, Hassophereth, Peruda,

⁵⁶Jaalah, Darkon, Giddel,

⁵⁷Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth-hazzebaim, and Ami.

⁵⁸In all, the Temple servants and the descendants of Solomon’s servants numbered 392.

⁵⁹Another group returned at this time from the towns of Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Kerub, Addan, and Immer. However, they could not prove that they or their families were descendants of Israel. ⁶⁰This group included the families of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda—a total of 652 people.

⁶¹Three families of priests—Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai—also returned. (This Barzillai had married a woman who was a descendant of Barzillai of Gilead, and he had taken her family name.) ⁶²They searched for their names in the genealogical records, but they were not found, so they were disqualified from serving as priests. ⁶³The governor told them not to eat the priests’ share of food from the sacrifices until a priest could consult the Lord about the matter by using the Urim and Thummim—the sacred lots.

⁶⁴So a total of 42,360 people returned to Judah, ⁶⁵in addition to 7,337 servants and 200 singers, both men and women. ⁶⁶They took with them 736 horses, 245 mules, ⁶⁷435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys.

⁶⁸When they arrived at the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders made voluntary offerings toward the rebuilding of God’s Temple on its original site, ⁶⁹and each leader gave as much as he could. The total of their gifts came to 61,000 gold coins, 6,250 pounds of silver, and 100 robes for the priests.

⁷⁰So the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, the Temple servants, and some of the common people settled in villages near Jerusalem. The rest of the people returned to their own towns throughout Israel.

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