Proclamation of Cyrus

1 Now in the ^[a]first year of ^[b]Cyrus king of Persia [that is, the first year he ruled Babylon], in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah [the prophet], the Lord stirred up (put in motion) the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying:^(A)

² “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The ^[c]Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house at 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 God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴ In any place where a survivor (Jewish exile) may live, let the men (Gentiles) of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.’”

Holy Articles Restored

⁵ Then the heads of the fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, all those whose spirits God had stirred up, ^[d]arose to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. ⁶ All those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle, and with valuable things, in addition to all that was given as a freewill offering. ⁷ Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem [when he captured that city] and had put in the house of his gods. ⁸ And Cyrus, king of Persia, had Mithredath the treasurer bring them out, and he counted them out to ^[e]Sheshbazzar, the governor (leader) of Judah. ⁹ And they counted: 30 dishes (basins) of gold, 1,000 dishes of silver, 29 duplicates; ¹⁰ 30 [small] gold bowls, 410 [small] silver bowls of a second kind, and 1,000 other articles. ¹¹ All the articles of gold and of silver totaled 5,400. All these Sheshbazzar [the governor] brought up with the exiles who went from Babylon up to Jerusalem.

Number of Those Returning

2 Now these are ^[f]the people of the province [of Judah] who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had deported to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own city. ² These came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, ^[g]Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, ^[h]Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah.

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

Priests Returning

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

Levites Returning

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

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

⁵⁵ The sons of [King] Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, Hassophereth (Sophereth), Peruda, ⁵⁶ the sons of Jaalah, Darkon, Giddel, ⁵⁷ the sons of Shephatiah, Hattil, Pochereth-hazzebaim, Ami.

⁵⁸ All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon’s servants totaled 392.

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

Priests Removed

⁶¹ Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, of Hakkoz, and of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was known by their name.^{(B) 62} These searched [for their names] among those registered in the genealogies, but they were not found; so they were excluded from the priesthood as [ceremonially] unclean. ⁶³ The ^[i]governor told them that they should not eat of the most holy things [the priests’ food] until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim [who by consulting these articles in his breastplate could ^[j]determine God’s will in the matter].

⁶⁴ The whole assembly totaled 42,360, ⁶⁵ besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and [among them] they had 200 male and female singers. ⁶⁶ Their horses totaled 736; their mules, 245; ⁶⁷ their camels totaled 435; their donkeys, 6,720.

⁶⁸ Some of the ^[k]heads of the fathers’ households (extended families), when they arrived at the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, made voluntary contributions for the house of God to rebuild it on its [old] foundation. ⁶⁹ They gave according to their ability to the treasury for the work, 61,000 drachmas of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priestly [linen] garments.

⁷⁰ So the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants settled in their [own] cities, and all Israel [gradually settled] into their cities.

²³ Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer clothes and made four parts, a part for each soldier, and also the tunic. But the ^[a]tunic was seamless, woven [in one piece] from the top throughout.^{(A) 24} So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it will be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture, “They divided My outer clothing among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”^{(B) 25} So the soldiers did these things.

But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, His mother’s sister [^[b]Salome], ^[c]Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.^{(C) 26} So Jesus, seeing His mother, and the ^[d]disciple whom He loved (esteemed) standing near, said to His mother, “[Dear] woman, look, [here is] your son!” ²⁷ Then He said to the disciple (John), “Look! [here is] your mother [protect and provide for her]!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said in fulfillment of the Scripture, “I am thirsty.”^{(D) 29} A jar full of ^[e]sour wine was placed there; so they put a sponge soaked in the sour wine on [a branch of] hyssop and held it to His mouth.^{(E) 30} When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and [voluntarily] ^[f]gave up His spirit.

Care of the Body of Jesus

³¹ Since it was the day of Preparation [for the Sabbath], in order to prevent the bodies from hanging on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high holy day) the Jews asked Pilate to have their legs ^[g]broken [to hasten death] and the bodies taken away. ³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other who had been crucified with Him. ³³ But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ³⁴ But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came [flowing] out. ³⁵ And he (John, the eyewitness) who has seen it has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also [who read this] may believe. ³⁶ For these things took place to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of His shall be broken.”^{(F) 37} And again another Scripture says, “They shall look at Him whom they have pierced.”^(G)

³⁸ And after this, Joseph of Arimathea—a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews—asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away His body.^{(H) 39} Nicodemus, who had first come to Him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, [weighing] about a hundred [Roman] ^[h]pounds. ⁴⁰ So they took Jesus’ body and bound it in linen wrappings with the fragrant spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. ⁴¹ Now there was a garden at the place where He was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb [cut out of solid rock] in which no one had yet been laid. ⁴² Therefore, because of the Jewish day of Preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.