Beginning
Cyrus sends the Jews back to Jerusalem
1 In the first year that Cyrus, king of Persia, was ruling Babylon, the Lord put a thought in his mind.[a] King Cyrus decided to send a message to everybody who lived in his kingdom. His message would cause what God had already spoken to his prophet Jeremiah to become true.[b] The message was written down and people took it all over Cyrus's kingdom. It said:
2 ‘This is what Cyrus, the king of Persia says:
The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me power over all the kingdoms of the earth. He has said that I must build a temple for him in Jerusalem, the city that is in Judah.[c] 3 Any of God's people who live among you may now return to Jerusalem. I pray that their God will be with them. They must build a temple there for the Lord, Israel's God. He is the God whose home is in Jerusalem. 4 In places where there are some Israelites who want to return, their neighbours must help them with gifts. They should give them silver, gold and other things for their journey. They should also give them animals. They may also give them special gifts for God's temple that is in Jerusalem.’
5 Then the leaders of the families of Judah and Benjamin prepared to return to Jerusalem. The priests and the Levites also prepared to go. God had put a thought in the minds of all those people that they should go. So they prepared everything that they needed to go and build the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. 6 Their neighbours gave them silver things, gold things and other valuable gifts, as well as animals. They also gave them offerings for the temple.
7 Then King Cyrus brought the valuable things that King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Lord's temple in Jerusalem.[d] Nebuchadnezzar had taken them from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. He had put them in the temple of his own gods. 8 Cyrus told his officer, Mithredath, to count all the valuable things. Mithredath was the officer who took care of all Persia's riches. As he counted the things, he gave them to Sheshbazzar, the leader of Judah's people.
9 They counted the things and they made this list:
30 gold dishes.
1,000 silver dishes.
29 special tools.
10 30 gold bowls.
410 silver bowls.
1,000 other things.
11 There were 5,400 things made from gold and silver. Sheshbazzar took them all with him when he left Babylon to return to Jerusalem with the other exiles.
The list of the people who returned
2 These are the people who returned to Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had brought them as prisoners to Babylon. Each person returned to his own town. 2 Their leaders were Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah. This is the number of Israelite men from each clan:
3 2,172 descendants of Parosh.
4 372 descendants of Shephatiah.
5 775 descendants of Arah.
6 2,812 descendants of Pahath-Moab (from the families of Jeshua and Joab).
7 1,254 descendants of Elam.
8 945 descendants of Zattu.
9 760 descendants of Zaccai.
10 642 descendants of Bani.
11 623 descendants of Bebai.
12 1,222 descendants of Azgad.
13 666 descendants of Adonikam.
14 2,056 descendants of Bigvai.
15 454 descendants of Adin.
16 98 descendants of Ater (from Hezekiah's family).
17 323 descendants of Bezai.
18 112 descendants of Jorah.
19 223 descendants of Hashum.
20 95 descendants of Gibbar.
21 123 men from Bethlehem.
22 56 men from Netophah.
23 128 men from Anathoth.
24 42 men from Azmaveth.
25 743 men from Kiriath-Jearim, Kephirah and Beeroth.
26 621 men from Ramah and Geba.
27 122 men from Michmash.
28 223 men from Bethel and Ai.
29 52 men from Nebo.
30 156 men from Magbish.
31 1,254 men from the other town called Elam.
32 320 men from Harim.
33 725 men from Lod, Hadid and Ono.
34 345 men from Jericho.
35 3,630 men from Senaah.
36 These were the priests:
973 descendants of Jedaiah (from Jeshua's family).
37 1,052 descendants of Immer.
38 1,247 descendants of Pashhur.
39 1,017 descendants of Harim.
40 These were the Levites:
74 descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel (from Hodaviah's family).
41 The singers:
128 descendants of Asaph.
42 The guards for the temple gates:
139 descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita and Shobai.
43 The temple servants:
the descendants of Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,
44 Keros, Siaha, Padon,
45 Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,
46 Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,
47 Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,
48 Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,
49 Uzza, Paseah, Besai,
50 Asnah, Meunim, Nephussim,
51 Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,
52 Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,
53 Barkos, Sisera, Temah,
54 Neziah and Hatipha.
55 The descendants of King Solomon's servants:
the descendants of Sotai, Hassophereth, Peruda,
56 Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,
57 Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth-Hazzebaim and Ami.
58 There were 392 men who were temple servants and the descendants of Solomon's servants.
59 Some people came from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer. But these people could not show that they belonged to Israelite families. They may not have been descendants of Israel.[e]
60 These people included 652 descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda.
61 These priests also could not show what families they belonged to: The descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai. (This Barzillai had married one of the daughters of a man from Gilead called Barzillai. So he took Barzillai's name for himself.)
62 These people tried to find their names in the lists of priests' families. But they could not find anything. So they could not serve as priests. 63 The officer in Judah said that they could not eat the priests' special food. They must wait until there was a leader of the priests who could use the Urim and Thummim to decide the right thing to do.[f]
64 All together, 42,360 people returned to Jerusalem. 65 There were also 7,337 male and female servants, as well as 200 male and female singers.
66 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 67 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.[g]
68 They arrived at the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. Some of the leaders of their families gave gifts to build the temple again where it had been before. 69 They each gave as much money as they were able to give. Together they gave about 500 kilograms of gold and nearly 3,000 kilograms of silver. They also gave 100 special sets of clothes for the priests.
70 The priests, the Levites, the singers, temple guards and other workers lived in their towns near Jerusalem. The other Israelites went to live in the towns where their ancestors had lived.
They build the altar
3 When all the people were now living in their towns, they went to meet together in Jerusalem. It was the seventh month of the year. 2 Jozadak's son, Jeshua, and some of the other priests in his family began to build the altar of Israel's God. Shealtiel's son, Zerubbabel, and some of his family also began to build it. They wanted to make burnt offerings on it. God's servant, Moses, had written about this in the law. 3 The people who already lived near there made them afraid. But they built the altar on its foundation. Then they made burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar. They offered sacrifices on it every day, in the morning and in the evening. 4 Then they had the Feast of Huts, as the law said they should do.[h] On each day of the feast they made the right number of burnt offerings. 5 After that, they made burnt offerings every day, and also at the time of each new moon. They made the right sacrifices for the special festivals, when people met together to worship the Lord. They also offered special gifts that people had chosen to give to the Lord. 6 They began to offer those burnt offerings on the first day of the seventh month. That was before they had started to build the temple.
They prepare to build the temple
7 The leaders gave money to men who could work with stone and wood. They sent food, drink and olive oil to the people in Tyre and Sidon. This was to pay for beams of wood from cedar trees. They would bring the wood from Lebanon on ships that came to Joppa. Cyrus, king of Persia, had commanded them to do this.
8 The Israelites began to build the Lord's temple two years after they arrived in Jerusalem. In the second month of the year, Shealtiel's son, Zerubbabel, and Jozadak's son, Jeshua, began the work. All the priests and the Levites who worked with them in Jerusalem joined them. All the people who had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon helped in the work. The leaders chose Levites who were 20 years old, or older, to have authority over the work.
9 These are their names:
Jeshua, his sons and his brothers.
Kadmiel and his sons. (They were descendants of Hodaviah.)
Henadad's sons, with their sons and brothers, who were Levites.
10 The men who were building the Lord's temple finished the foundations. Then the priests put on their special clothes. They made a noise with their trumpets. The Levites (sons of Asaph) made a noise with their cymbals.[i] They all stood to praise the Lord, in the way that Israel's King David had told them many years before. 11 They sang together to praise the Lord. Group by group, they sang these words:
‘He is good.
His love for Israel will continue for ever.’
Then all the people shouted loudly to praise the Lord. They praised him because they had finished work on the temple's foundation.
12 But many of the older priests, Levites and leaders wept aloud. They were sad because they had seen the temple as it had been before. They remembered how beautiful it had been. At the same time, many other people shouted because they were happy. 13 The happy shouts and the noise of people who were weeping were both very loud. People far away could hear the noise. The different sounds mixed together, so nobody could say which was which.
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