1 Esdras 4:42-48

Revised Standard Version

Zerubbabel’s Reward

⁴² Then the king said to him, “Ask what you wish, even beyond what is written, and we will give it to you, for you have been found to be the wisest. And you shall sit next to me, and be called my kinsman.” ⁴³ Then he said to the king, “Remember the vow which you made to build Jerusalem, in the day when you became king, ⁴⁴ and to send back all the vessels that were taken from Jerusalem, which Cyrus set apart when he began^[a] to destroy Babylon, and vowed to send them back there. ⁴⁵ You also vowed to build the temple, which the E′domites burned when Judea was laid waste by the Chalde′ans. ⁴⁶ And now, O lord the king, this is what I ask and request of you, and this befits your greatness. I pray therefore that you fulfil the vow whose fulfilment you vowed to the King of heaven with your own lips.”

⁴⁷ Then Darius the king rose, and kissed him, and wrote letters for him to all the treasurers and governors and generals and satraps, that they should give escort to him and all who were going up with him to build Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ And he wrote letters to all the governors in Coelesyria and Phoenic′ia and to those in Leb′anon, to bring cedar timber from Leb′anon to Jerusalem, and to help him build the city.