¹⁰ “Take from the exiles ^(A)Heldai, Tobijah, and ^(B)Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of ^(C)Zephaniah.

¹⁴ For you are sent by the king ^(A)and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand, ¹⁵ and also to carry the silver and gold that the king ^(B)and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, ^(C)whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, ^16 (D)with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and ^(E)with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem.

^26 (A)I weighed out into their hand 650 talents^[a] of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents,^[b] and 100 talents of gold, ²⁷ 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics,^[c] and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. ²⁸ And I said to them, ^(B)“You are holy to the Lord, and ^(C)the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. ²⁹ Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem, ^(D)within the chambers of the house of the Lord.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites ^(E)took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

²⁵ At present, however, ^(A)I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. ²⁶ For ^(B)Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Now ^(A)after several years ^(B)I came to bring alms to ^(C)my nation and to present ^(D)offerings.

⁶ and the prophet Jeremiah said, ^(A)“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles.

^20 (A)And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations ^(B)as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.