In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he caused it to be proclaimed throughout all his empire, yea and by writing also, saying,

"Thus sayeth Cyrus the king of Persia: 'The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the land and hath commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.

Whosoever now among you is of his people, the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel. He is the God that is at Jerusalem.

Then gat up the principal fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, and all they whose spirit God had raised to go up, and to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem.

The children of Parosh, two thousand, a hundred, and two and seventy;

the children of Shephatiah, three hundred and two and seventy;

The children of Pahathmoab among the children of Jeshua Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve;

The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred and four and fifty;

The children of Bani, six hundred and two and forty;

The children of Azgad, a thousand two hundred and two and twenty;

The children of Bigvai, two thousand and six and fifty;

The children of Hashum, two hundred and three and twenty;

The children of Azmaveth, two and forty;

The men of Michmas, a hundred and two and twenty;

The men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred and three and twenty;

The children of Nebo, two and fifty;

The children of the other Elam, a thousand, two hundred four and fifty;

The children of Immer, a thousand, and two and fifty;

The children of Pashhur, a thousand, and two hundred and seven and forty;

All the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants, were all together three hundred and two and ninety.

The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred and two and fifty.

And of the children of the priests: The children of Habaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, which took one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite to wife, and was counted among the same names:

The whole congregation as one man, was two and forty thousand, three hundred and threescore;

beside their servants and maidens, of whom there were seven thousand, three hundred and seven and thirty. And they had two hundred singing men and women,

seven hundred and six and thirty horses, two hundred and five and forty mules,

And certain of the chief fathers, when they came to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, they offered willingly unto the house of God, that it should be set in his place;

And there stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.

And held the feast of tabernacles as it is written, and offered burnt sacrifices daily, in order: according to the custom, day by day.

Upon the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt sacrifices unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.

Nevertheless, they gave money unto the masons and the carpenters, and meat and drink and oil unto them of Sidon and of Tyre, to bring Cedar timber from Lebanon by sea unto Joppa, according to the commandment of Cyrus the king of Persia.

In the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem: and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and above, to see that the work of the house of the LORD went forward.

And Jeshua stood with his sons and his brethren, and Kadmiel with his sons and the children of Judah, to further the workmen of the house of God; namely, the children of Henadad with their children and their brethren the Levites.

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their array, with trumpets, and the Levites, the children of Asaph, with cymbals; to praise the LORD, after the manner of David, king of Israel.

they came to Zerubbabel and to the principal fathers, and said unto them, "We will build with you: for we seek the Lord your God like as ye do. And we have done sacrifice unto him, since the time that Esarhaddon the king of Assyria brought us up hither."

But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the other ancient fathers of Israel answered them, "It belongeth not to you, but to us to build the house unto our God: for we ourselves will build alone unto the LORD our God of Israel, as Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us."

Then the folk of the land hindered the people of Judah, and made them afraid to build,

Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, wrote a letter from Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king, as it followeth.

Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which are come up from thee to us unto Ierusalem, into that seditious and wicked city, build the same? And make up the walls of it? And bring it out of the foundation?

And now in the mean season we have destroyed the temple, and would no longer see the king's dishonour. Therefore sent we out, and caused the king to be certified thereof:

That it may be sought in the Chronicles of thy progenitors, and so shalt thou find in the same Chronicles, and perceive, that this city is seditious and noisome unto kings and lands, and that they cause others also to rebel of the old, and for the same cause was this city destroyed.

Therefore do we certify the king, that if this city be builded, and the walls thereof made up, thou shalt keep nothing on this side the water by the reason of it."

Then sent the king an answer, "Unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the others of their counsel that dwelt in Samaria, and unto others beyond the water: Peace and salutation.

and I have commanded to make search: and it is found, that this city, of old, hath made insurrection against kings; and how the uproar and rebellion hath been committed therein.

Do ye now after this commandment, forbid the same men, that the city be not builded, till I have given commandment?

Now when king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe and their counsel, they went up in all the haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and forbade them with violence and power.

Then gat up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God at Jerusalem, and with them the Prophets of God which strengthened them.

At the same time came to them Tattenai, which was the captain on this side the water, and Shetharbozenai, and their counselors, and said thus unto them, "Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up the walls thereof?"

Be it known unto the king, that we came into Jewry to the house of the great God, which is builded with all manner of stone, and beams are laid in the walls, and the work goeth fast forth, and prospereth in their hands?

Nevertheless, we asked the Elders and said unto them, 'Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up the walls thereof?'

But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, the same king Cyrus commanded to build this house of God -

"In the first year of king Cyrus, commanded the same king Cyrus to build the house of God at Jerusalem, in the place where the sacrifice is made, and to lay the foundation to bear threescore cubits height, threescore cubits breadth,

And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God - which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon - shall be restored again, that they may be brought unto the temple at Jerusalem to their place into the house of God."

I have commanded also, what shall be done to the Elders of Judah for the building of the house of God, that there shall diligently be taken of the king's goods, even of the rents beyond the water, and given unto the men, and that they be not hindered.

But the God that dwelleth in heaven, destroy all kings and people that put to their hand to alter and to break down the house of God at Jerusalem. I, Darius, have commanded, that this be diligently done."

Then Tattenai the captain beyond the water, and Shetharbozenai, with their counselors to whom king Darius the king had sent did their diligence.

And the Elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo: and they builded, and laid up the foundation, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and after the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.

And the house was finished the third day of the month Adar, even in the sixth year of the reign of king Darius.

and offered at the dedication of the house of God, a hundred calves, two hundred lambs, four hundred goats: and for the sin offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel,

and set the priests in their courses, and the Levites in their offices to minister unto God which is at Jerusalem as it is written in the book of Moses.

And the children of the captivity held Passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month:

And the children of Israel which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the Heathen in the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, ate

This Ezra was a perfect scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel did give. And the king gave him all that he required, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.

And they came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, that is the seventh year of the king.

For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon: and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of God upon him.

For Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach the precept and judgment in Israel.

I have commanded, that all they of the people of Israel, and of the priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own good will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee;

and therefore art thou sent of the king and of the seven lords of the counsel, to visit Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of God, which is in thy hand;

Take thou the same, and buy diligently with the same money, calves, lambs, goats, and meat offerings and drink offerings, to be offered upon the altar of the house of your God at Jerusalem.

And look: what it liketh thee and thy brethren to do with the remnant of the money, that do after the will of your God.

And whatsoever thing more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which is necessary for thee to spend, let the same be given out of the king's chamber.

Whatsoever belongeth to the law of the God of heaven, let the same be done with diligence for the house of the God of heaven, that there come no wrath upon the king's realm and his children.

And known be it unto you, that ye shall have no authority to require taxing and custom, yearly rents upon any of the priests, Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, and ministers in the house of this God.

But thou Ezra - after the wisdom of thy God that is in thy hand - set thou judges and arbiters, to judge all the people that is beyond the Jordan, even all such as know the law of thy God: and them that know it not, those see that ye teach.

And whosoever will not diligently fulfill the law of thy God, and the king's law, shall have his judgment for the deed, whether it be unto death, or to be banished, or to be condemned in goods, or to be put in prison."

Praised be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath so inspired the king's heart, to garnish the house of God at Jerusalem:

and hath inclined his mercy unto me in the presence of the king, and his counselors, and before all the king's high estates. And I was comforted, according to the hand of the LORD my God over me, and so gathered I the heads of Israel together, that they might go up with me.

Of the children of Pahathmoab, Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred men.

Of the children of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen men.

Then sent I to Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, the rulers, and Joiarib and Elnathan, which were men of understanding.

And to those gave I commandment unto Iddo, the chiefest at Casiphia; and I told them what they should say unto Iddo and his brethren the Nethinims at Casiphia: that they should cause the ministers of the house of our God to come unto us.

And of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes gave to minister unto the Levites, two hundred and twenty, all named by name.

And even there at the water beside Ahava, I proclaimed a fast, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and our children and all our substance.

For I was ashamed to require of the king, soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way. For we had said unto the king, "The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him in goodness, and his violence and wrath is upon all them that forsake him."

and weighed them there the silver and gold and vessels for the heave offering unto the house of our God, which the king and his lords of his counsel and princes, and all Israel that were at hand, had given to the heave offering:

twenty cups of gold of a thousand drams, and two costly ornaments of good brass, as clear as gold,

Then took the priests and the Levites that weighed silver and gold and vessel, to bring it to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.

So we brake up, from the water of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and delivered us from the hand of the enemies and of such as laid wait for us by the way.

And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days.

But on the fourth day was the silver and gold and vessels weighed in the house of our God under the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, the Levites,

according to the number and weight of every one. And the weight was all written up at the same time.

And the children of the captivity, which were come out of prison, offered burnt offerings unto the God of Israel: twelve bullocks for all Israel, six and ninety rams, seven and seventy lambs, twelve goats for a sin offering, all to the burnt offering of the LORD.

And they delivered the king's commission unto the king's officers, and to the captains on this side the water. And they promoted the people and the house of God.

Then all this was performed, the rulers came to me, and said, "The people of Israel, and the priests, and Levites are not separated from the nations in the lands as touching their abominations, namely of the Cananites, Hittites, Perezites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.

Since the time of our fathers have we been in great trespass unto this day, and because of our wickedness have we and our kings been delivered into the hand of the kings of the nations, in to the sword, in to captivity, in to spoil, and in to confusion of face, as it is come to pass this day.

For we are bondmen, and our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, and hath inclined mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, that he should give us life, and promote the house of our God, and to set up the desolation thereof, and to give us a hedge in Judah and in Jerusalem.

which thou hast commanded by thy servants the Prophets, and said, 'The land unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land through the filthiness of the people of the lands, in their abominations wherewith they have made it full of uncleanness on every side.

And after all this that is come upon us, because of our evil deeds and great trespass, thou our God hast spared our wickednesses, and hast given us a deliverance as it is come to pass this day.

As for us, we have turned back, and have let go thy commandments, to make contract with the people of these abominations. Wilt thou then be wroth at us, till we be utterly consumed, so that nothing remain, and there be no deliverance?

O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous, for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day. Behold, in thy presence are we in our trespass: for because of it is there no standing before thee."

for now will we make a covenant with our God, that we shall put away all the wives - and such as are born of them - according to the counsel of the LORD and of them that fear the commandment of our God, that we may do according to the law.