⁵ Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits ^(A)God ^[a]had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

End of the Babylonian Captivity^(A)

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

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. ^17 (A)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, ^(B)with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

¹³ for ^(A)it is God who works in you both to will and to do ^(B)for His good pleasure.

Collection for the Judean Saints

¹⁶ But thanks be to God who ^[a]puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.

Wisdom Is Better Than Gold

¹² Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode.

The Proclamation of Cyrus^(A)

^22 (B)Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of ^(C)Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of ^(D)Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,

¹¹ Beloved, ^(A)do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. ^(B)He who does good is of God, ^[a]but he who does evil has not seen ^(C)God.