Ezra 6

New King James Version

The Decree of Darius

6 Then King Darius issued a decree, ^(A)and a search was made in the ^[a]archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. ²And at ^[b]Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of ^(B)Media, a scroll was found, and in it a record was written thus:

³In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a ^(C)decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem: “Let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offered sacrifices; and let the foundations of it be firmly laid, its height sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, ⁴^(D)with three rows of heavy stones and one row of new timber. Let the ^(E)expenses be paid from the king’s treasury. ⁵Also let ^(F)the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple which is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and taken back to the temple which is in Jerusalem, each to its place; and deposit them in the house of God”—

⁶^(G)Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the region beyond the River, and Shethar-Boznai, and your companions the Persians who are beyond the River, keep yourselves far from there. ⁷Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.

⁸Moreover I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews, for the building of this ^[c]house of God: Let the cost be paid at the king’s expense from taxes on the region beyond the River; this is to be given immediately to these men, so that they are not hindered. ⁹And whatever they need—young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the request of the priests who are in Jerusalem—let it be given them day by day without fail, ¹⁰^(H)that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

¹¹Also I issue a decree that whoever alters this edict, let a timber be pulled from his house and erected, and let him be hanged on it; ^(I)and let his house be made a refuse heap because of this. ¹²And may the God who causes His ^(J)name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this ^[d]house of God which is in Jerusalem. I Darius issue a decree; let it be done diligently.

The Temple Completed and Dedicated

¹³Then Tattenai, governor of the region beyond the River, Shethar-Boznai, and their companions diligently did according to what King Darius had sent. ¹⁴^(K)So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the ^[e]command of ^(L)Cyrus, ^(M)Darius, and ^(N)Artaxerxes king of Persia. ¹⁵Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. ¹⁶Then the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, celebrated ^(O)the dedication of this ^[f]house of God with joy. ¹⁷And they ^(P)offered sacrifices at the dedication of this house of God, one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸They assigned the priests to their ^(Q)divisions and the Levites to their ^(R)divisions, over the service of God in Jerusalem, ^(S)as it is written in the Book of Moses.

The Passover Celebrated^(T)

¹⁹^[g]And the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover ^(U)on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²⁰For the priests and the Levites had ^(V)purified themselves; all of them were ritually clean. And they ^(W)slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the descendants of the captivity, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. ²¹Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the ^(X)filth^[h] of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of Israel. ²²And they kept the ^(Y)Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the Lord made them joyful, and ^(Z)turned the heart ^(AA)of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Footnotes

Ezra 6:1 Lit. house of the scrolls
Ezra 6:2 Probably Ecbatana, the ancient capital of Media
Ezra 6:8 Temple
Ezra 6:12 Temple
Ezra 6:14 decree
Ezra 6:16 Temple
Ezra 6:19 The Hebrew language resumes in Ezra 6:19 and continues through 7:11.
Ezra 6:21 uncleanness

Hebrews 12:14-29

New King James Version

¹⁴^(A)Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, ^(B)without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵looking carefully lest anyone ^(C)fall short of the grace of God; lest any ^(D)root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶lest there be any ^(E)fornicator or ^[a]profane person like Esau, ^(F)who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ¹⁷For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was ^(G)rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

The Glorious Company

¹⁸For you have not come ^[b]to ^(H)the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and ^[c]darkness and tempest, ¹⁹and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it ^(I)begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. ²⁰(For they could not endure what was commanded: ^(J)“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned ^[d]or shot with an arrow.” ²¹And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ^(K)“I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

²²But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, ²³to the ^[e]general assembly and church of ^(L)the firstborn ^(M)who are registered in heaven, to God ^(N)the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men ^(O)made perfect, ²⁴to Jesus ^(P)the Mediator of the new covenant, and to ^(Q)the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things ^(R)than that of Abel.

Hear the Heavenly Voice

²⁵See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For ^(S)if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, ²⁶whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ^(T)“Yet once more I ^[f]shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” ²⁷Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the ^(U)removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

²⁸Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we ^[g]may ^(V)serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. ²⁹For ^(W)our God is a consuming fire.

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