NAS - Ezra Chapter 1 to 3

1 Cyrus's Proclamation

¹Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying:

²"Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, `The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ³`Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴`Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.'"

Holy Vessels Restored

⁵Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. ⁶All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. ⁷Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; ⁸and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. ⁹Now this was their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 duplicates; ¹⁰30 gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind and 1,000 other articles. ¹¹All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

2 Number of Those Returning

¹Now these are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city. ²These came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah.

The number of the men of the people of Israel: ³the sons of Parosh, 2,172; ⁴the sons of Shephatiah, 372; ⁵the sons of Arah, 775; ⁶the sons of Pahath-moab of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812; ⁷the sons of Elam, 1,254; ⁸the sons of Zattu, 945; ⁹the sons of Zaccai, 760; ¹⁰the sons of Bani, 642; ¹¹the sons of Bebai, 623; ¹²the sons of Azgad, 1,222; ¹³the sons of Adonikam, 666; ¹⁴the sons of Bigvai, 2,056; ¹⁵the sons of Adin, 454; ¹⁶the sons of Ater of Hezekiah, 98; ¹⁷the sons of Bezai, 323; ¹⁸the sons of Jorah, 112; ¹⁹the sons of Hashum, 223; ²⁰the sons of Gibbar, 95; ²¹the men of Bethlehem, 123; ²²the men of Netophah, 56; ²³the men of Anathoth, 128; ²⁴the sons of Azmaveth, 42; ²⁵the sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah and Beeroth, 743; ²⁶the sons of Ramah and Geba, 621; ²⁷the men of Michmas, 122; ²⁸the men of Bethel and Ai, 223; ²⁹the sons of Nebo, 52; ³⁰the sons of Magbish, 156; ³¹the sons of the other Elam, 1,254; ³²the sons of Harim, 320; ³³the sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono, 725; ³⁴the men of Jericho, 345; ³⁵the sons of Senaah, 3,630.

Priests Returning

³⁶The priests: the sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973; ³⁷the sons of Immer, 1,052; ³⁸the sons of Pashhur, 1,247; ³⁹the sons of Harim, 1,017.

Levites Returning

⁴⁰The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah, 74. ⁴¹The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128. ⁴²The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, in all 139.

⁴³The temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, ⁴⁵the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, ⁴⁶the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shalmai, the sons of Hanan, ⁴⁷the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah, ⁴⁸the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam, ⁴⁹the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai, ⁵⁰the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephisim, ⁵¹the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵²the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, ⁵³the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, ⁵⁴the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha.

⁵⁵The sons of Solomon's servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda, ⁵⁶the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, ⁵⁷the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Ami.

⁵⁸All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were 392.

⁵⁹Now these are those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan and Immer, but they were not able to give evidence of their fathers' households and their descendants, whether they were of Israel: ⁶⁰the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 652.

Priests Removed

⁶¹Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name. ⁶²These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. ⁶³The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim.

⁶⁴The whole assembly numbered 42,360, ⁶⁵besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and they had 200 singing men and women. ⁶⁶Their horses were 736; their mules, 245; ⁶⁷their camels, 435; their donkeys, 6,720.

⁶⁸Some of the heads of fathers' households, when they arrived at the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to restore it on its foundation. ⁶⁹According to their ability they gave to the treasury for the work 61,000 gold drachmas and 5,000 silver minas and 100 priestly garments.

⁷⁰Now the priests and the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple servants lived in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

3 Altar and Sacrifices Restored

¹Now when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. ²Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers arose and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. ³So they set up the altar on its foundation, for they were terrified because of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening. ⁴They celebrated the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the fixed number of burnt offerings daily, according to the ordinance, as each day required; ⁵and afterward there was a continual burnt offering, also for the new moons and for all the fixed festivals of the LORD that were consecrated, and from everyone who offered a freewill offering to the LORD. ⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, but the foundation of the temple of the LORD had not been laid. ⁷Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food, drink and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyrians, to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the permission they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Temple Restoration Begun

⁸Now 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 who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites from twenty years and older to oversee the work of the house of the LORD. ⁹Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God.

¹⁰Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the directions of King David of Israel. ¹¹They sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, "For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever." And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. ¹²Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.