Ezra 1–3

Chapter 1

¹In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

²“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ³Whoever 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 rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem; ⁴and let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.”

⁵Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, every one whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem; ⁶and all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. ⁷Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. ⁸Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Shesh-bazzar the prince of Judah. ⁹And this was the number of them: a thousand basins of gold, a thousand basins of silver, twenty-nine censers, ¹⁰thirty bowls of gold, two thousand four hundred and ten bowls of silver, and a thousand other vessels; ¹¹all the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred and sixty-nine. All these did Shesh-bazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

Chapter 2

¹Now these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia; they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. ²They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Re-el-aiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

The number of the men of the people of Israel: ³the sons of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two. ⁴The sons of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two. ⁵The sons of Arah, seven hundred and seventy-five. ⁶The sons of Pahath-moab, namely the sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve. ⁷The sons of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four. ⁸The sons of Zattu, nine hundred and forty-five. ⁹The sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty. ¹⁰The sons of Bani, six hundred and forty-two. ¹¹The sons of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-three. ¹²The sons of Azgad, one thousand two hundred and twenty-two. ¹³The sons of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six. ¹⁴The sons of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-six. ¹⁵The sons of Adin, four hundred and fifty-four. ¹⁶The sons of Ater, namely of Hezekiah, ninety-eight. ¹⁷The sons of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-three. ¹⁸The sons of Jorah, one hundred and twelve. ¹⁹The sons of Hashum, two hundred and twenty-three. ²⁰The sons of Gibbar, ninety-five. ²¹The sons of Bethlehem, one hundred and twenty-three. ²²The men of Netophah, fifty-six. ²³The men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight. ²⁴The sons of Azmaveth, forty-two. ²⁵The sons of Kiriatharim, Chephirah, and Be-eroth, seven hundred and forty-three. ²⁶The sons 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 sons of Nebo, fifty-two. ³⁰The sons of Magbish, one hundred and fifty-six. ³¹The sons of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four. ³²The sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty. ³³The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-five. ³⁴The sons of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five. ³⁵The sons of Senaah, three thousand six hundred and thirty.

³⁶The priests: the sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three. ³⁷The sons of Immer, one thousand and fifty-two. ³⁸The sons of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven. ³⁹The sons of Harim, one thousand and seventeen.

⁴⁰The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmi-el, of the sons of Hodaviah, 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, in all one hundred and thirty-nine.

⁴³The temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, ⁴⁵the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, ⁴⁶the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shamlai, the sons of Hanan, ⁴⁷the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Re-aiah, 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 Me-unim, the sons of Nephisim, ⁵¹the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵²the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, ⁵³the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, ⁵⁴the sons of Neziah, and the sons of Hatipha.

⁵⁵The sons of Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda, 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, and the sons of Ami.

⁵⁸All the temple servants^d and the sons of Solomon’s servants were three hundred and ninety-two.

⁵⁹The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, though they could not prove their fathers’ houses or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: ⁶⁰the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nekoda, six hundred and fifty-two. ⁶¹Also, of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, and the sons of Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name). ⁶²These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean; ⁶³the governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food, until there should be a priest to consult Urim and Thummim.

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

⁶⁸Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site; ⁶⁹according to their ability they gave to the treasury of the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priests’ garments.

⁷⁰The priests, the Levites, and some of the people lived in Jerusalem and its vicinity; and the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all Israel in their towns.

Chapter 3

¹When the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. ²Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of She-alti-el with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. ³They set the altar in its place, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings upon it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. ⁴And they kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinance, as each day required, ⁵and after that the continual burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of every one who made 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 was not yet laid. ⁷So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant which they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

⁸Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of She-alti-el and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their brethren, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹And Jeshua with his sons and his kinsmen, and Kadmi-el and his sons, the sons of Judah, together took the oversight of the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and kinsmen.

¹⁰And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel; ¹¹and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

“For he is good,

for his steadfast love…