1In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order that the word of the LORD, spoken by Jeremiah (2 Chron.36:22-23) might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred the heart of Cyrus to make a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom of Persia, and to put it in writing: 2“Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, ‘The LORD God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He has appointed me to build Him a temple at Jerusalem, in Judah. 3Any of you who are of His people may go up to Jerusalem, in Judah; and build the Temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, Who is in Jerusalem; and may your God be with you. 4And let any Jewish survivors that remain anywhere help those who do return to build, by providing them with silver, gold, goods, livestock, and freewill offerings for the Temple of God in Jerusalem.’” 5Then the heads of the tribes Judah and Benjamin, the priests, and Levites, all those whose spirit God had stirred, prepared to go to build the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. 6And all their neighbors around them supported them with gifts - vessels of silver, gold, goods, livestock, and other precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. 7King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the Temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from Jerusalem, to put in the house of his gods; 8These Cyrus had Mithredath, the treasurer of Persia, bring and count them out to Sheshbazzar, the governor of Judah. 9And this is the inventory of those items: thirty platters of gold; a thousand platters of silver; twenty-nine incense burners; 10Thirty gold bowls; four hundred ten matching silver bowls; and a thousand other items. 11All the articles of gold and of silver totaled five thousand, four hundred, that Sheshbazzar returned to Jerusalem from Babylon, along with the returning exiles. Reader-Friendly Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2024 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |