Ezra 1-4
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
1 Now in the first year of [a]Cyrus king of Persia [almost seventy years after the first Jewish captives were taken to Babylon], that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might begin to be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing:(A)
2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.
3 Whoever is among you of all His people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem; He is God.
4 And in any place where a survivor [of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews] sojourns, let the men of that place assist him with silver and gold, with goods and beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.
5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, with all those whose spirits God had stirred up, to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
6 And all those who were around them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, goods, beasts, and precious things, besides all that was willingly and freely offered.
7 Also Cyrus the king brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem [when he took that city] and had put in the house of his gods.
8 These Cyrus king of Persia directed Mithredath the treasurer to bring forth and count out to Sheshbazzar [who is Zerubbabel, recognized as the legitimate heir to the throne of David] the prince of Judah.
9 And they numbered: 30 basins of gold; 1,000 basins of silver; 29 sacrificial dishes;
10 Of gold bowls, 30; another sort of silver bowl, 410; and other vessels, 1,000.
11 All the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these Sheshbazzar [the governor] brought with the people of the captivity from Babylon to Jerusalem.
2 Now these are the people of the province [of Judah] who went up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, but who came again to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city.
2 These came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah [not the author], Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai [not Esther’s relative], Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of Israel:
3 The sons [meaning male descendants] of Parosh, 2,172.
4 The sons of Shephatiah, 372.
5 The sons of Arah, 775.
6 The sons of Pahath-moab, namely 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 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 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 sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, 973.
37 The sons of Immer, 1,052.
38 The sons of Pashhur, 1,247.
39 The sons of Harim, 1,017.
40 The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the house of Hodaviah, 74.
41 The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128.
42 The sons of the gatekeepers: of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai, in all 139.
43 The Nethinim [the temple servants]: the sons of Ziba, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,
44 The sons of Keros, Siaha, Padon,
45 The sons of Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,
46 The sons of Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,
47 The sons of Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,
48 The sons of Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,
49 The sons of Uzza, Paseah, Besai,
50 The sons of Asnah, Meunim, Nephisim,
51 The sons of Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,
52 The sons of Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,
53 The sons of Barkos, Sisera, Temah,
54 The sons of Neziah [and] of Hatipha.
55 The sons of [King] Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, Sophereth (Hassophereth), Peruda,
56 The sons of Jaalah, Darkon, Giddel,
57 The sons of Shephatiah, Hattil, Pochereth-hazzebaim, Ami.
58 All the Nethinim [the temple servants] and the sons of Solomon’s servants were 392.
59 And these were they who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they could not show a record of their fathers’ houses or prove their descent, whether they were of Israel:
60 The sons of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda, 652.
61 And of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, of Hakkoz, and of Barzillai, who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the [noted] Gileadite and had assumed their name.(B)
62 These sought their names among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found; so they were excluded from the priesthood as [ceremonially] unclean.
63 [Zerubbabel] the governor told them they should not eat of the most holy things [the priests’ food] until there should be a priest with Urim and Thummim [who by consulting these articles in his breastplate could [b]know God’s will in the matter].
64 The whole congregation numbered 42,360,
65 Besides their menservants and maidservants, 7,337; and among them they had 200 men and women singers.
66 Their horses were 736; their mules, 245;
67 Their camels were 435; their donkeys, 6,720.
68 Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God to [re]build it on its site.
69 They gave as they were able to the treasury for the work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priests’ garments.
70 So the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their own towns, and all Israel [gradually settled] into their towns.
3 When the seventh month came and the Israelites were in the towns, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.
2 Then stood up Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the [c]instructions of Moses the man of God.
3 And they set the altar [in its place] upon its base, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the countries; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord morning and evening.
4 They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinances, as each day’s duty required,
5 And after that, the continual burnt offering, the offering at the New Moon, and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord.
6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.
7 They gave money also to the masons and to the carpenters, and gave food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the seaport of Joppa, according to the grant they had from Cyrus king of Persia.
8 In the second year of their coming to God’s house at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak made a beginning, with the rest of their brethren—the priests and Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem out of the captivity. They appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward to oversee the work of the Lord’s house.
9 Then Jeshua with his sons and his kinsmen, Kadmiel and his sons, sons of Judah, together took the oversight of the workmen in the house of God—the sons of Henadad, with their sons and Levite kinsmen.
10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their vestments with trumpets, and the Levite sons of Asaph with their cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the order of David king of Israel.
11 They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid!
12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house [Solomon’s temple], when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, though many shouted aloud for joy.
13 So the people could not distinguish the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far off.
4 Now when [the Samaritans] the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles from the captivity were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel,
2 They came to Zerubbabel [now governor] and to the heads of the fathers’ houses and said, Let us build with you, for we seek and worship your God as you do, and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.(C)
3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.
4 Then [the Samaritans] the people of the land [continually] weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled and terrified them in building
5 And hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose and plans all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius [II] king of Persia.
6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus [or Xerxes], in the beginning of his reign, [the Samaritans] wrote to him an accusation against the [returned] inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
7 Later, in the days of King Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the letter was written in the Syrian or Aramaic script and interpreted in that language.
8 Rehum the [Persian] commander [of the Samaritans] and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king of this sort—
9 Then wrote Rehum the [Persian] commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates—the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites,
10 And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria and the rest of the country beyond [west of] the Euphrates River, and so forth.
11 This is a copy of the letter which they sent to King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men beyond [that is, west of] the River [Euphrates], and so forth.
12 Be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have come to Jerusalem. This rebellious and bad city they are rebuilding, and have restored its walls and repaired the foundations.
13 Be it known now to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, then they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be diminished.
14 Now because we eat the salt of the king’s palace and it is not proper for us to witness the king’s discredit, therefore we send to inform the king,
15 In order that a search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers, in which you will learn that this is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it of old. That is why [it] was laid waste.
16 We declare to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, it will mean that you will have no portion on this side of the [Euphrates] River.
17 Then the king sent an answer: To Rehum the [Persian] official, to Shimshai the scribe, to the rest of their companions who dwell in Samaria and in the rest of the country beyond the River: Greetings.
18 The letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me.
19 I commanded and search has been made, and it is found that this city [Jerusalem] of old time has made insurrection against kings and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it.
20 There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem who have ruled over all countries beyond [west of] the [Euphrates] River, and tribute, custom, and toll were paid to them.
21 Therefore give a decree to make these men stop, that this city not be rebuilt, until a command is given by me.
22 Be sure that you do this. Why should damage grow, to the hurt of the kings?
23 When the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and by force and power made them cease.
24 Then the [d]work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped. It stopped until the second year of Darius [I] king of Persia.
Footnotes
- Ezra 1:1 Cyrus, a heathen ruler of a heathen empire (Persia), was “twice named [before his birth] in the book of Isaiah as anointed of God and predestined to conquer kings and fortified places and to set the Jews free from captivity (Isa. 44:28; 45:1-14). Daniel... records that during the night that followed a great feast, Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom (Dan. 5:30, 31). Darius was the predecessor of Cyrus, or his regent, in Babylonia (Dan. 6:28)” (John D. Davis, A Dictionary of the Bible). God gave Cyrus the resolution and the desire to execute His intention. That the Lord at this time chose a heathen as His instrument was in accordance with the new position that the empires of the world were henceforth to assume toward the kingdom of God (J.P. Lange, A Commentary).
- Ezra 2:63 But the effort doubtless would have been in vain. Long-standing disobedience had apparently caused Israel’s priests to forfeit the divine gift of guidance through Urim and Thummim, and it was never recovered. Except for a similar incident in Neh. 7:65, Urim and Thummim are not again mentioned in the Scriptures. The higher revelation by the prophets superseded them as interpreters of the will of God (see also Exod. 28:30; Amos 3:7).
- Ezra 3:2 The Hebrew word here is torah, and although usually translated “law,” that is only one phase of its meaning, and so to use it, to the exclusion of its fuller sense, may defeat its intended purpose at times. The word torah is used more than 200 times in the Old Testament. When capitalized, Torah means the whole of the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. Says Baker’s Dictionary of Theology (E.F. Harrison et al., eds.), “The Hebrew torah originally signified authoritative instruction (Prov. 1:8); hence it most commonly means an ‘oracle’ or ‘word’ of the Lord, whether delivered through an accredited spokesman such as Moses, or a prophet or priest. Thus torah comes to have the wider sense of ‘instruction’ (as in rv margin) from God.... It is therefore a synonym for the whole of the revealed will of God—the word, commandments, ways, judgments, precepts, etc., of the Lord, as in Gen. 26:5, and especially throughout Ps. 119.”
- Ezra 4:24 The long digression in Ezra 4:6-23 describes later opposition to Jewish efforts to restore the walls and rebuild the city during the reigns of Xerxes (486-465 b.c.) and Artaxerxes I (465-424). Here in Ezra 4:24 Ezra reverts back to the time of Darius I (522-486) and the rebuilding of the temple, which ceased because of the discouragement described in Ezra 4:4-5, resumed again (Ezra 5:2), and was completed in the sixth year of the reign of Darius I (Ezra 6:15).
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