And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered.

All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. The whole did Sheshbazzar bring up, when they of the captivity were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

And these are they that went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub-Addan, Immer; but they could not shew their fathers' house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel.

These sought their genealogical register, but they were not found; therefore were they, as polluted, removed from the priesthood.

And the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.

besides their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred singing men and singing women.

And some of the chief fathers, when they came to the house of Jehovah which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in its place.

They gave after their ability to the treasure of the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, and five thousand pounds of silver, and one hundred priests' coats.

And they set the altar on its base; for fear was upon them because of the people of the countries; and they offered up burnt-offerings on it to Jehovah, the morning and evening burnt-offerings.

And they held the feast of tabernacles as it is written, and offered daily burnt-offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;

From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer up burnt-offerings to Jehovah. But the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was not yet laid.

And they gave money to the masons and to the carpenters; and meat and drink and oil to the Zidonians and to the Tyrians, to bring cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

And in the second year of their coming to 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 had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem; and they appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to superintend the work of the house of Jehovah.

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Jehovah, they set the priests in their apparel, with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise Jehovah according to the directions of David king of Israel.

And they sang alternately together in praising and giving thanks to Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving-kindness endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout to the praise of Jehovah, because the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid.

and they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief fathers, and said to them, We would build with you; for we seek your God, as ye; and we have sacrificed to him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.

and they hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

This is the copy of the letter that they sent to him: To Artaxerxes the king: Thy servants the men on this side the river, and so forth.

Be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from thee unto us have come to Jerusalem; they are building the rebellious and the bad city, and they complete the walls and join up the foundations.

Be it known therefore unto the king, that, if this city be built and the walls be completed, they will not pay tribute, tax, and toll, and in the end it will bring damage to the kings.

that search may be made in the book of the annals of thy fathers: so shalt thou find in the book of the annals and know that this city is a rebellious city, which has done damage to kings and provinces, and that they have raised sedition within the same of old time, for which cause this city was destroyed.

As soon as the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them cease by force and power.

Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem; in the name of the God of Israel did they prophesy to them.

And they said to them after this manner: What are the names of the men that build this building?

But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease till the matter came to Darius; and then they returned answer by letter concerning it.

They sent a report to him in which was written thus: To Darius the king, all peace!

And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of the heavens and the earth, and build the house that was built these many years ago; and a great king of Israel built and completed it.

And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was at Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, those did king Cyrus take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one Sheshbazzar by name, whom he had appointed governor.

In the first year of king Cyrus, king Cyrus made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem: Let the house be built for a place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be solidly laid; its height sixty cubits, its breadth sixty cubits,

Moreover, I give orders what ye shall do to these elders of the Jews, for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, of the tribute beyond the river, expenses be diligently given to these men, that they be not hindered.

And that which they have need of, both young bullocks and rams and lambs, for the burnt-offerings to the God of the heavens, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests that are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail;

that they may present sweet odours to the God of the heavens, and pray for the life of the king and of his sons.

And the elders of the Jews built; and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and completed it according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

and they presented at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and for a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

And they set the priests in their classes, and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem: as it is written in the book of Moses.

For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves as one man: they were all pure; and they killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.

and they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; for Jehovah had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

I have given orders that all they of the people of Israel, and of their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are disposed to go to Jerusalem, go with thee.

And I gave them a commission to Iddo the chief, at the place Casiphia, and I put words in their mouths to say to Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.

And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely, Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;

And they delivered the king's edicts to the king's satraps, and to the governors on this side the river. And they furthered the people and the house of God.

for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and have mingled the holy seed with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this unfaithfulness.

which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land through the filthiness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations with which they have filled it from one end to another through their uncleanness.

Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, of the Levites, and of all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. And they swore.

And they made proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;

And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest and certain of the chief fathers were separated according to their fathers' houses, and all of them expressed by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

And they ended with all the men that had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

And they gave their hand to send away their wives; and they offered a ram of the flock, as trespass-offering for their guilt.