The Decree of Cyrus

1 In a the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, b the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. c The Lord put it into the mind d of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:

2 This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. e 3 Whoever is among His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, f the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 Let every survivor, g wherever he lives, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.”

Return from Exile

5 So the family leaders of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone God had motivated h i—prepared to go up and rebuild the Lord’s house in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors supported them j k with silver articles, gold, goods, livestock, and valuables, in addition to all that was given as a freewill offering. 7 King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the house of his gods. l 8 King Cyrus of Persia had them brought out under the supervision of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. m 9 This was the inventory:

30 gold basins, 1,000 silver basins,

29 silver knives, 10 30 gold bowls,

410 various n silver bowls, and 1,000 other articles.

11 The gold and silver articles totaled 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought all of them when the exiles went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.