The Proclamation of Cyrus

1 ^(A)In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, ^(B)that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so ^(C)that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

² “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and ^(D)he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ³ Whoever 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 rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—^(E)he is the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴ And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

⁵ Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, ^(F)everyone whose spirit ^(G)God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. ⁶ And all who were about them ^(H)aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. ^7 (I)Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that ^(J)Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. ⁸ Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of ^(K)Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to ^(L)Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. ⁹ And this was the number of them: ^(M)30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, ¹⁰ 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; ¹¹ all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

The Exiles Return

2 ^(N)Now these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles ^(O)whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. ² They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, ^(P)Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

The number of the men of the people of Israel: ^3 (Q)the sons of Parosh, 2,172. ⁴ The sons of Shephatiah, 372. ⁵ The sons of Arah, 775. ⁶ The sons of Pahath-moab, namely 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, namely 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 sons 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 ^(R)the other Elam, 1,254. ³² The sons of Harim, 320. ³³ The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 725. ³⁴ The sons of Jericho, 345. ³⁵ The sons of Senaah, 3,630.

³⁶ The priests: the ^(S)sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, 973. ³⁷ The sons of Immer, 1,052. ³⁸ The ^(T)sons of Pashhur, 1,247. ³⁹ The sons of Harim, 1,017.

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

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

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

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

⁵⁹ The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, ^(Z)though they could not prove their fathers' houses or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: ⁶⁰ the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nekoda, 652. ⁶¹ Also, of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, and the sons of ^(AA)Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name). ⁶² These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and ^(AB)so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. ⁶³ The ^(AC)governor told them that they were not ^(AD)to partake of the most holy food, until there should be a priest to consult ^(AE)Urim and Thummim.

^64 (AF)The whole assembly together was 42,360, ⁶⁵ besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337, and they had 200 male and female ^(AG)singers. ⁶⁶ Their horses were 736, their mules were 245, ⁶⁷ their camels were 435, and their donkeys were 6,720.

^68 (AH)Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. ⁶⁹ According to their ability they gave to ^(AI)the treasury of the work 61,000 darics^[a] of gold, 5,000 minas^[b] of silver, and 100 priests' garments.

^70 (AJ)Now the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel^[c] in their towns.

Gentiles Hear the Good News

³⁴ So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that ^(A)God ^(B)shows no partiality, ³⁵ but ^(C)in every nation anyone who fears him and ^(D)does what is right is acceptable to him. ³⁶ As for ^(E)the word that he sent to Israel, ^(F)preaching good news of ^(G)peace through Jesus Christ (^(H)he is Lord of all), ³⁷ you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, ^(I)beginning ^(J)from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: ³⁸ how ^(K)God anointed Jesus of Nazareth ^(L)with the Holy Spirit and with ^(M)power. He went about doing good and healing all ^(N)who were oppressed by the devil, ^(O)for God was with him. ³⁹ And ^(P)we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. ^(Q)They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, ⁴⁰ but ^(R)God raised him on ^(S)the third day and made him to ^(T)appear, ^41 (U)not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as ^(V)witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² And ^(W)he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify ^(X)that he is the one appointed by God to be judge ^(Y)of the living and the dead. ^43 (Z)To him ^(AA)all the prophets bear witness that ^(AB)everyone who believes in him receives ^(AC)forgiveness of sins ^(AD)through his name.”

The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles

⁴⁴ While Peter was still saying these things, ^(AE)the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. ⁴⁵ And the believers from among ^(AF)the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because ^(AG)the gift of the Holy Spirit ^(AH)was poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶ For they were hearing them ^(AI)speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, ^47 (AJ)“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit ^(AK)just as we have?” ⁴⁸ And he ^(AL)commanded them ^(AM)to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.