An Edict to Rebuild the Temple 1During the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the message from the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD prompteda Cyrus, king of Persia, to make this proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, which was also released in written form: 2AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROMb CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a templec for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3Therefore, who among the LORD’sd people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem of Judah to rebuild the Temple of the LORDe God of Israel, the God of Jerusalem. 4Furthermore, everyone who wishes to repatriatef from any territory where he now resides is to receive assistance from his fellow residents in the form of silver, gold, equipment, and pack animals, in addition to voluntary offerings for the Temple of the God of Jerusalem. 5In response, the heads of the familiesg of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and descendants of Levi, and all those who had been promptedh by God, prepared to travel to rebuild the Temple of the LORD, which was in Jerusalem. 6So all of their neighbors equipped the travelersi with silver, gold, equipment, pack animals, and valuable goods, in addition to voluntary offerings. Temple Instruments Returned 7King Cyrus also brought out from storagej the service instruments from the Temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his gods.k 8Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out to Mithredath the Treasurer, had them inventoried, and had them placed in care ofl Sheshbazzar,m governor of Judah. 9Here is a partial inventory:n Gold dishes: 30 Silver dishes: 1,000 Sacrificial knives: 29 10Gold bowls: 30 Silver bowls of another kind:o 410 Miscellaneous instruments: 1,000 11The complete inventory of gold and silver vessels totaled 5,400. Sheshbazzarp brought them all to Jerusalem, along with the exiles from Babylon. Footnotes: a 1:1 Lit. stirred up the spirit of b 1:2 Lit. Thus says c 1:2 Or house, and so throughout the book d 1:3 Lit. among all of his e 1:3 Lit. of his LORD f 1:4 Lit. who remains g 1:5 Lit. fathers h 1:5 Lit. all whose spirit had been stirred up i 1:6 Lit. strengthened their hands j 1:7 The Heb. lacks from storage k 1:7 LXX his god l 1:8 Lit. Treasurer, and numbered them to m 1:8 i.e. Zerubbabel; Sheshbazzar is the Persian equivalent (cf. 2:2) n 1:9 Lit. This was their number o 1:10 Lit. of a second p 1:11 i.e. Zerubbabel; Sheshbazzar is the Persian equivalent (cf. 2:2) The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Bible Hub |
    |