Beginning
1 ¶ Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, 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, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying,
2 Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The LORD God of the heavens has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3 Who is there among you of all his people? Let God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem.
4 And whoever may remain of all the places where they remained a stranger, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts, with freewill gifts for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
5 ¶ Then rose up the heads of the families of Judah and of Benjamin and the priests and the Levites, of all those whose spirit God woke up to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.
6 And all those that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver and of gold, with goods and with beasts and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered.
7 Also Cyrus, the king, brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put them in the house of his god.
8 Even those did Cyrus, king of Persia, bring forth by the hand of Mithredath, the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
9 And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, twenty-nine knives,
10 thirty basins of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and another thousand vessels.
11 All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar cause to be brought up with those that came up from the captivity of Babylon unto Jerusalem.
2 ¶ Now these are the sons of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and that returned unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city,
2 which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:
3 The sons of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two.
4 The sons of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy-two.
5 The sons of Arah, seven hundred seventy-five.
6 The sons of Pahathmoab, of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve.
7 The sons of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four.
8 The sons of Zattu, nine hundred and forty-five.
9 The sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and seventy.
10 The sons of Bani, six hundred and forty-two.
11 The sons of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-three.
12 The sons of Azgad, one thousand two hundred and twenty-two.
13 The sons of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six.
14 The sons of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-six.
15 The sons of Adin, four hundred and fifty-four.
16 The sons of Ater of Hezekiah, ninety-eight.
17 The sons of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-three.
18 The sons of Jorah, one hundred and twelve.
19 The sons of Hashum, two hundred and twenty-three.
20 The sons of Gibbar, ninety-five.
21 The sons of Bethlehem, one hundred and twenty-three.
22 The men of Netophah, fifty-six.
23 The men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight.
24 The sons of Azmaveth, forty-two.
25 The sons of Kirjatharim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three.
26 The sons of Ramah and Gaba, six hundred and twenty-one.
27 The men of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two.
28 The men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred and twenty-three.
29 The sons of Nebo, fifty-two.
30 The sons of Magbish, one hundred and fifty-six.
31 The sons of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four.
32 The sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty.
33 The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-five.
34 The sons of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five.
35 The sons of Senaah, three thousand six hundred and thirty.
36 ¶ The priests: the sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three.
37 The sons of Immer, one thousand and fifty-two.
38 The sons of Pashur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven.
39 The sons of Harim, one thousand and seventeen.
40 The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and of Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah, seventy-four.
41 The singers: the sons of Asaph, one hundred and twenty-eight.
42 The sons of the porters: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, in all one hundred and thirty-nine.
43 The Nethinims: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth,
44 the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon,
45 the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub,
46 the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shalmai, the sons of Hanan,
47 the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah,
48 the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam,
49 the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai,
50 the sons of Asnah, the sons of Mehunim, the sons of Nephusim,
51 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur,
52 the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha,
53 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Thamah,
54 the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha.
55 The sons of Solomon’s slaves: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Peruda,
56 the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel,
57 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth of Zebaim, the sons of Ami.
58 All the Nethinims and the sons of Solomon’s slaves, were three hundred and ninety-two.
59 And these were those which went up from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they could not show their father’s house and their seed, whether they were of Israel.
60 The sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred and fifty-two.
61 And of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Koz, the sons of Barzillai; who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and was called after their name.
62 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found; therefore, they were, as polluted, put from the priesthood.
63 And the Tirshatha said unto them that they should not eat of the most holy things until there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.
64 ¶ The whole congregation united as one man was forty-two thousand three hundred and seventy,
65 besides their slaves and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and there were among them two hundred men and women who were singers.
66 Their horses were seven hundred and thirty-six; their mules, two hundred and forty-five;
67 their camels, four hundred and thirty-five; their asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.
68 And some of the heads of the fathers, when they came to the house of the LORD which was at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place.
69 They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work sixty-one thousand drams of gold and five thousand pounds of silver and one hundred priests’ garments.
70 So the priests and the Levites and those of the people and the singers and the porters and the Nethinims dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.
3 ¶ And when the seventh month was come and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man in Jerusalem.
2 Then stood up Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel, the 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 law of Moses, the man of God.
3 And they set the altar upon its bases, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of those lands, and they offered burnt offerings upon it unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
4 They kept also the feast of the tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, each thing in its day,
5 and in addition to this, the continual burnt offering and the new moons and all the sanctified feasts of the LORD and every spontaneous freewill offering unto the LORD.
6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.
7 And they gave money unto the masons and to the carpenters; and food and drink and oil unto the Zidonians and to those of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the will of Cyrus, king of Persia, over them.
8 ¶ And in the second year of their coming unto the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren, the priests and the Levites, and all those that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the LORD.
9 Then Jeshua stood with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren, the Levites.
10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the ordinance of David, king of Israel.
11 And they sang, praising and giving thanks unto the LORD because he is good, for his mercy endures for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, praising the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.
12 But many of the priests and Levites and of the heads of the fathers, who were ancient men that had seen the first house, as the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice while many shouted aloud for joy:
13 so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.
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