And the chiefs of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, and all whose spirit God had raised, rose up to go up to build the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem.

And Cyrus the king brought out the vessels of the house of Jehovah, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought out of Jerusalem and had put them in the house of his gods.

And these are the sons of the province who went up out of the captivity, of those who had been exiled, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled to Babylon. And these came again to Jerusalem and Judah, each one to his city.

And when the seventh month had come, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves as one man to Jerusalem.

They gave silver also to the masons and to the carpenters. And they gave meat and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and to the people of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant which they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

And in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all they who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began. And they chose the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of Jehovah.

But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, ancient men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. And many shouted aloud for joy

And take heed that you do not fail to do this. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so that they could not cause them to stop until the matter came to Darius, and answer by letter concerning this had been returned.

But after our fathers had provoked the God of Heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away to Babylon.

And also the vessels of gold and silver from the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.

In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem. Let the house be built, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations of it be strongly laid. The height of it shall be sixty cubits, and the breadth of it shall be sixty cubits,

Then Tatnai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-boznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily.

And the sons of Israel ate, all who had come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the uncleanness of the nations of the land, in order to seek Jehovah, the God of Israel.

And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy. For Jehovah had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to make their hands strong in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

this Ezra went up from Babylon. And he was a ready scribe in the Law of Moses, which Jehovah, the God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all he asked, according to the hand of Jehovah his God on him.

For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of Jehovah, and to do it, and to teach statutes and judgments in Israel.

also of the temple slaves whom David and the rulers had chosen for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty temple slaves. All of them were called by name.

For I was ashamed to ask of the king troops and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is on all those who seek Him for good, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.

And I weighed to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, the offering of the house of our God, which the king and his counselors and his lords, and all Israel who were there, had offered.

The sons of those who had been exiled, who had come out of the captivity, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve young bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to Jehovah.

And when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down stricken dumb.

Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel was gathered to me, because of the sin of those who had been exiled. And I remained dumb until the evening sacrifice.

should we again break Your commandments and join hands with the people of these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had crushed us, until there is no remnant nor survivor?

And when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there gathered to him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children, for the people wept with a great weeping.

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God and went into the room of Johanan the son of Eliashib. And he went there, and he ate no bread nor drank water. For he mourned because of the sin of those who had been exiled.

And they made an end with all the men who had taken strange women by the first day of the first month.

And among the sons of the priests, these were found who had taken strange women: From the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers were Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.

All these had taken strange women. And many of them had women by whom they had sons.