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.

⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, ^(A)a respected member of the council, who ^(B)was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Nehemiah Sent to Judah

2 In the month of Nisan, ^(A)in the twentieth year of King ^(B)Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, ^(C)I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. ² And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but ^(D)sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. ³ I said to the king, ^(E)“Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, ^(F)when the city, the place of my fathers' graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” ⁴ Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed ^(G)to the God of heaven. ⁵ And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' graves, that I may rebuild it.” ⁶ And the king said to me (^(H)the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me ^(I)when I had given him a time. ⁷ And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me ^(J)to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, ⁸ and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^(K)the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, ^(L)for the good hand of my God was upon me.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem's Walls

⁹ Then I came to ^(M)the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. ¹⁰ But when ^(N)Sanballat the Horonite and ^(O)Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

^11 (P)So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. ¹² Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. ¹³ I went out by night by ^(Q)the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to ^(R)the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem ^(S)that were broken down ^(T)and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴ Then I went on to ^(U)the Fountain Gate and to ^(V)the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. ¹⁵ Then I went up in the night ^(W)by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. ¹⁶ And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, ^(X)how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer ^(Y)suffer derision.” ¹⁸ And I told them ^(Z)of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” ^(AA)So they strengthened their hands for the good work. ¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and ^(AB)Geshem the Arab heard of it, ^(AC)they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? ^(AD)Are you rebelling against the king?” ²⁰ Then I replied to them, ^(AE)“The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim^[a] in Jerusalem.”