< Ezra 1 >

1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the LORD’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
In the first year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of the Persians, so that the word of the Lord from the mouth of Jeremiah would be fulfilled. And he sent out a voice, throughout his entire kingdom, and also in writing, saying:
2 “Cyrus king of Persia says, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
“Thus says Cyrus, the king of the Persians: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me, and he himself has instructed me that I should build a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judea.
3 Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem.
Who among you is from his entire people? May his God be with him. Let him ascend to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and let him build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem.
4 Whoever is left, in any place where he lives, let the men of his place help him with silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, in addition to the free will offering for God’s house which is in Jerusalem.’”
And let all who remain, in all the places wherever they may live, assist him, each man from his place, with silver and gold, and goods and cattle, in addition to whatever they may offer voluntarily to the temple of God, which is in Jerusalem.”
5 Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, all whose spirit God had stirred to go up, rose up to build the LORD’s house which is in Jerusalem.
And the leaders of the fathers from Judah and from Benjamin, with the priests, and the Levites, and all those whose spirit was stirred by God, rose up, so that they might ascend to build the temple of the Lord, which was in Jerusalem.
6 All those who were around them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with animals, and with precious things, in addition to all that was willingly offered.
And all those who were all around assisted their hands with vessels of silver and gold, with goods and cattle, with equipment, in addition to whatever they had offered freely.
7 Also Cyrus the king brought out the vessels of the LORD’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought out of Jerusalem, and had put in the house of his gods;
Likewise, king Cyrus offered the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.
8 even those, Cyrus king of Persia brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.
Now Cyrus, king of Persia, offered these by the hand of Mithredath, the son of the treasurer, and he counted these out to Sheshbazzar, the leader of Judah.
9 This is the number of them: thirty platters of gold, one thousand platters of silver, twenty-nine knives,
And this is their number: thirty gold bowls, one thousand silver bowls, twenty-nine knives, thirty gold cups,
10 thirty bowls of gold, four hundred ten silver bowls of a second kind, and one thousand other vessels.
four hundred ten of a second kind of silver cup, one thousand other vessels.
11 All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. Sheshbazzar brought all these up when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
All the vessels of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred. Sheshbazzar brought all these, with those who ascended from the transmigration of Babylon, into Jerusalem.

< Ezra 1 >