13 “However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree(A) to rebuild this house of God.

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28 who says of Cyrus,(A) ‘He is my shepherd
    and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem,(B) “Let it be rebuilt,”
    and of the temple,(C) “Let its foundations(D) be laid.”’

45 “This is what the Lord says to his anointed,(E)
    to Cyrus,(F) whose right hand I take hold(G) of
to subdue nations(H) before him
    and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
    so that gates will not be shut:

In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:

Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid.(A) It is to be sixty cubits[a] high and sixty cubits wide, with three courses(B) of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury.(C) Also, the gold(D) and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 6:3 That is, about 90 feet or about 27 meters

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return(A)

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,(B) the Lord moved the heart(C) of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed(D) me to build(E) a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. And in any locality where survivors(F) may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold,(G) with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings(H) for the temple of God(I) in Jerusalem.’”(J)

Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin,(K) and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved(L)—prepared to go up and build the house(M) of the Lord in Jerusalem. All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold,(N) with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.[a](O) Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar(P) the prince of Judah.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 1:7 Or gods

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