Cyrus’ Proclamation

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

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 ^(C)He has appointed me to rebuild for Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ³ Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! ^[a]Go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; ^(D)He is the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴ And every survivor, at whatever place he may ^[b]live, the people of ^[c]that place are to support him with silver and gold, with equipment and cattle, together with a ^[d]voluntary offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

Holy Vessels Restored

⁵ Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites rose up, ^(E)everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. ⁶ And all of those around them ^[e](F)encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with equipment, cattle, and with valuables, aside from everything that was given as a ^[f]voluntary offering. ^7 (G)Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, ^(H)which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; ⁸ and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to ^(I)Sheshbazzar, the leader of Judah. ⁹ Now this was their number: thirty ^(J)gold dishes, a thousand silver dishes, twenty nine ^[g]duplicates; ¹⁰ thirty gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind, and a thousand other articles. ¹¹ All the articles of gold and silver totaled 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Number of Those Returning

2 ^(A)Now these are the ^[a]people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had taken into exile to Babylon, and they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city. ^2 [b]These came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, ^[c]Seraiah, ^[d]Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, ^[e]Mispar, Bigvai, ^[f]Rehum, and Baanah.

This is the number of the men of the people of Israel: ³ the sons of Parosh, 2,172; ⁴ the sons of Shephatiah, 372; ⁵ the sons of ^(B)Arah, 775; ⁶ the sons of ^(C)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 ^[g]Bani, 642; ¹¹ the sons of Bebai, 623; ¹² the sons of Azgad, 1,222; ¹³ the sons of ^(D)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 ^[h]Jorah, 112; ¹⁹ the sons of Hashum, 223; ²⁰ the sons of ^[i]Gibbar, 95; ²¹ the ^[j]men of ^(E)Bethlehem, 123; ²² the men of Netophah, 56; ²³ the men of Anathoth, 128; ²⁴ the sons of ^[k]Azmaveth, 42; ²⁵ the sons of ^[l]Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743; ²⁶ the sons of ^(F)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 ^[m]men of ^(G)Jericho, 345; ³⁵ the sons of Senaah, 3,630.

Priests Returning

^36 (H)The priests: the sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973; ³⁷ the sons of ^(I)Immer, 1,052; ^38 (J)the sons of Pashhur, 1,247; ³⁹ the sons of ^(K)Harim, 1,017.

Levites Returning

⁴⁰ The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of ^[n]Hodaviah, 74. ⁴¹ The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128. ⁴² The sons of the 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, 139 in all.

⁴³ The ^(L)temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴ the sons of Keros, the sons of ^[o]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 Shalmai, 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 ^[p]Nephisim, ⁵¹ the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵² the sons of ^[q]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 The sons of ^(M)Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of ^[r]Hassophereth, the sons of ^[s]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 ^[t]Ami.

⁵⁸ All the ^(N)temple servants and the sons of ^(O)Solomon’s servants totaled 392.

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

Priests Removed

⁶¹ Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of ^(P)Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name. ⁶² These searched among their genealogical registration but they could not be located; ^(Q)so they were considered defiled and excluded from the priesthood. ⁶³ The ^[x]governor said to them ^(R)that they were not to eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with ^(S)Urim and Thummim.

⁶⁴ The whole assembly together totaled 42,360, ⁶⁵ besides their male and female slaves ^[y]who totaled 7,337; and they had two hundred ^(T)singing men and women. ⁶⁶ Their horses numbered 736; their mules, 245; ⁶⁷ their camels, 435; their donkeys, 6,720.

⁶⁸ Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they arrived at the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to erect it on its site. ⁶⁹ According to their ability they gave ^(U)to the treasury for the work sixty-one thousand gold drachmas, five thousand silver minas, and a hundred priestly ^[z]garments.

^70 (V)Now the priests and the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

Jesus Appears at the Sea of Galilee

21 After these things Jesus ^[a](A)revealed Himself ^(B)again to the disciples at the ^(C)Sea of Tiberias, and He revealed Himself in this way: ² Simon Peter, ^(D)Thomas who was called ^[b]Didymus, ^(E)Nathanael of ^(F)Cana in Galilee, ^(G)the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. ³ Simon Peter *said to them, “I am going fishing.” They *said to him, “We are also coming with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and ^(H)that night they caught nothing.

⁴ But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not ^(I)know that it was Jesus. ⁵ So Jesus *said to them, “Children, ^(J)you do not have any fish to eat, do you?” They answered Him, “No.” ⁶ And He said to them, “^(K)Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you will find the fish.” So they cast it, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great quantity of fish. ^7 (L)Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved *said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. ⁸ But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about ^[c]two hundred cubits away, dragging the net full of fish.

⁹ So when they got out on the land, they *saw a charcoal ^(M)fire already ^[d]made and ^(N)fish placed on it, and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus *said to them, “Bring some of the ^(O)fish which you have now caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went up and hauled the net to land, full of large fish, 153; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus Provides

¹² Jesus *said to them, “Come and have ^(P)breakfast.” None of the disciples ventured to inquire of Him, “Who are You?” knowing that it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus *came and *took ^(Q)the bread and *gave it to them, and the ^(R)fish likewise. ¹⁴ This was now the ^(S)third time that Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.

The Love Question

¹⁵ Now when they had ^(T)finished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you ^[e](U)love Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I ^[f]love You.” He *said to him, “Tend ^(V)My lambs.” ¹⁶ He *said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you ^[g]love Me?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I ^[h]love You.” He *said to him, “^(W)Shepherd My sheep.” ¹⁷ He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you ^[i]love Me?” Peter was ^[j]hurt because He said to him ^(X)the third time, “Do you ^[k]love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, ^(Y)You know all things; You know that I ^[l]love You.” Jesus *said to him, “^(Z)Tend My sheep.

Our Times Are in His Hand

¹⁸ Truly, truly I tell you, when you were younger, you used to put on your belt and walk wherever you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will put your belt on you, and bring you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Now He said this, ^(AA)indicating by ^(AB)what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had said this, He *said to him, “^(AC)Follow Me!”

²⁰ Peter turned around and *saw the ^(AD)disciple whom Jesus loved following them—the one who also had ^(AE)leaned back on His chest at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who is betraying You?” ²¹ So Peter, upon seeing him, *said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” ²² Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain ^(AF)until I come, what is that to you? You ^(AG)follow Me!” ²³ Therefore this ^[m]account went out among ^(AH)the brothers, that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain ^(AI)until I come, what is that to you?”

²⁴ This is the disciple who ^(AJ)is testifying about these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

²⁵ But there are also ^(AK)many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written in detail, I expect that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.