Ezra 1

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return

    ¹ In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

   ² “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

   “‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. ³ Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. ⁴ And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”

   ⁵ Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. ⁶ All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

   ⁷ Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.^{[a] 8} Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

   ⁹ This was the inventory:

    gold dishes 30

    silver dishes 1,000

    silver pans^[b] 29

    ¹⁰ gold bowls 30

    matching silver bowls 410

    other articles 1,000

   ¹¹ In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Ezra 2

The List of the Exiles Who Returned

    ¹ Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to their own town, ² in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah):

   The list of the men of the people of Israel:

    ³ the descendants of Parosh 2,172

    ⁴ of Shephatiah 372

    ⁵ of Arah 775

    ⁶ of Pahath-Moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab) 2,812

    ⁷ of Elam 1,254

    ⁸ of Zattu 945

    ⁹ of Zakkai 760

    ¹⁰ of Bani 642

    ¹¹ of Bebai 623

    ¹² of Azgad 1,222

    ¹³ of Adonikam 666

    ¹⁴ of Bigvai 2,056

    ¹⁵ of Adin 454

    ¹⁶ of Ater (through Hezekiah) 98

    ¹⁷ of Bezai 323

    ¹⁸ of Jorah 112

    ¹⁹ of Hashum 223

    ²⁰ of Gibbar 95

    ²¹ the men of Bethlehem 123

    ²² of Netophah 56

    ²³ of Anathoth 128

    ²⁴ of Azmaveth 42

    ²⁵ of Kiriath Jearim,^[c] Kephirah and Beeroth 743

    ²⁶ of Ramah and Geba 621

    ²⁷ of Mikmash 122

    ²⁸ of Bethel and Ai 223

    ²⁹ of Nebo 52

    ³⁰ of Magbish 156

    ³¹ of the other Elam 1,254

    ³² of Harim 320

    ³³ of Lod, Hadid and Ono 725

    ³⁴ of Jericho 345

    ³⁵ of Senaah 3,630

   ³⁶ The priests:

    the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua) 973

    ³⁷ of Immer 1,052

    ³⁸ of Pashhur 1,247

    ³⁹ of Harim 1,017

   ⁴⁰ The Levites:

    the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel (of the line of Hodaviah) 74

   ⁴¹ The musicians:

    the descendants of Asaph 128

   ⁴² The gatekeepers of the temple:

    the descendants of

    Shallum, Ater, Talmon,

    Akkub, Hatita and Shobai 139

   ⁴³ The temple servants:

    the descendants of

    Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,

    ⁴⁴ Keros, Siaha, Padon,

    ⁴⁵ Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,

    ⁴⁶ Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,

    ⁴⁷ Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,

    ⁴⁸ Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,

    ⁴⁹ Uzza, Paseah, Besai,

    ⁵⁰ Asnah, Meunim, Nephusim,

    ⁵¹ Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,

    ⁵² Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,

    ⁵³ Barkos, Sisera, Temah,

    ⁵⁴ Neziah and Hatipha

   ⁵⁵ The descendants of the servants of Solomon:

    the descendants of

    Sotai, Hassophereth, Peruda,

    ⁵⁶ Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,

    ⁵⁷ Shephatiah, Hattil,

    Pokereth-Hazzebaim and Ami

    ⁵⁸ The temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon 392

   ⁵⁹ The following came up from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer, but they could not show that their families were descended from Israel:

    ⁶⁰ The descendants of

    Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda 652

   ⁶¹ And from among the priests:

    The descendants of

    Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai (a man who had married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name).

   ⁶² These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. ⁶³ The governor ordered them not to eat any of the most sacred food until there was a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim.

   ⁶⁴ The whole company numbered 42,360, ⁶⁵ besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 200 male and female singers. ⁶⁶ They had 736 horses, 245 mules, ⁶⁷ 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.

   ⁶⁸ When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site. ⁶⁹ According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 darics^[d] of gold, 5,000 minas^[e] of silver and 100 priestly garments.

   ⁷⁰ The priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.

John 19

   ²³ When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

   ²⁴ “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

   This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

   “They divided my clothes among them
   and cast lots for my garment.”^[a]

   So this is what the soldiers did.

   ²⁵ Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,^[b] here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The Death of Jesus

    ²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

   ³¹ Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³² The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. ³³ But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. ³⁵ The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶ These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”^{[c] 37} and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”^[d]

The Burial of Jesus

    ³⁸ Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.^{[e] 40} Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. ⁴¹ At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Footnotes:

Ezra 1-2

1. Ezra 1:7 Or gods
2. Ezra 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
3. Ezra 2:25 See Septuagint (see also Neh. 7:29); Hebrew Kiriath Arim.
4. Ezra 2:69 That is, about 1,100 pounds or about 500 kilograms
5. Ezra 2:69 That is, about 3 tons or about 2.8 metric tons

John 19:23-42

1. John 19:24 Psalm 22:18
2. John 19:26 The Greek for Woman does not denote any disrespect.
3. John 19:36 Exodus 12:46; Num. 9:12; Psalm 34:20
4. John 19:37 Zech. 12:10
5. John 19:39 Or about 34 kilograms