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Historical

Read the books of the Bible as they were written historically, according to the estimated date of their writing.

Duration: 365 days

Ezra 1-2

Proclamation of Cyrus

1 Now in the ^[a]first year of ^[b]Cyrus king of Persia [that is, the first year he ruled Babylon], in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah [the prophet], the Lord stirred up (put in motion) the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying:^(A)

²“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The ^[c]Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ³Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴In any place where a survivor (Jewish exile) may live, let the men (Gentiles) of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.’”

Holy Articles Restored

⁵Then the heads of the fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, all those whose spirits God had stirred up, ^[d]arose to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. ⁶All those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle, and with valuable things, in addition to all that was given as a freewill offering. ⁷Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem [when he captured that city] and had put in the house of his gods. ⁸And Cyrus, king of Persia, had Mithredath the treasurer bring them out, and he counted them out to ^[e]Sheshbazzar, the governor (leader) of Judah. ⁹And they counted: 30 dishes (basins) of gold, 1,000 dishes of silver, 29 duplicates; ¹⁰30 [small] gold bowls, 410 [small] silver bowls of a second kind, and 1,000 other articles. ¹¹All the articles of gold and of silver totaled 5,400. All these Sheshbazzar [the governor] brought up with the exiles who went from Babylon up to Jerusalem.

Number of Those Returning

2 Now these are ^[f]the people of the province [of Judah] who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had deported to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own city. ²These came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, ^[g]Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, ^[h]Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah.

The number of the men of the people of Israel: ³the sons (descendants) of Parosh, 2,172; ⁴the sons of Shephatiah, 372; ⁵the sons of Arah, 775; ⁶the sons of Pahath-moab of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812; ⁷the sons of Elam, 1,254; ⁸the sons of Zattu, 945; ⁹the sons of Zaccai, 760; ¹⁰the sons of Bani, 642; ¹¹the sons of Bebai, 623; ¹²the sons of Azgad, 1,222; ¹³the sons of Adonikam, 666; ¹⁴the sons of Bigvai, 2,056; ¹⁵the sons of Adin, 454; ¹⁶the sons of Ater of Hezekiah, 98; ¹⁷the sons of Bezai, 323; ¹⁸the sons of Jorah, 112; ¹⁹the sons of Hashum, 223; ²⁰the sons of Gibbar, 95; ²¹the men of Bethlehem, 123; ²²the men of Netophah, 56; ²³the men of Anathoth, 128; ²⁴the sons of Azmaveth, 42; ²⁵the sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah and Beeroth, 743; ²⁶the sons of Ramah and Geba, 621; ²⁷the men of Michmas, 122; ²⁸the men of Bethel and Ai, 223; ²⁹the sons of Nebo, 52; ³⁰the sons of Magbish, 156; ³¹the sons of the other Elam, 1,254; ³²the sons of Harim, 320; ³³the sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono, 725; ³⁴the men of Jericho, 345; ³⁵the sons of Senaah, 3,630.

Priests Returning

³⁶The priests: the sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973; ³⁷the sons of Immer, 1,052; ³⁸the sons of Pashhur, 1,247; ³⁹the sons of Harim, 1,017.

Levites Returning

⁴⁰The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah, 74. ⁴¹The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128. ⁴²The sons of the gatekeepers: of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai, in all 139.

⁴³The temple servants: the sons of Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴the sons of Keros, Siaha, Padon, ⁴⁵the sons of Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub, ⁴⁶the sons of Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan, ⁴⁷the sons of Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah, ⁴⁸the sons of Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam, ⁴⁹the sons of Uzza, Paseah, Besai, ⁵⁰the sons of Asnah, Meunim, Nephisim, ⁵¹the sons of Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur, ⁵²the sons of Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha, ⁵³the sons of Barkos, Sisera, Temah, ⁵⁴the sons of Neziah, Hatipha.

⁵⁵The sons of [King] Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, Hassophereth (Sophereth), Peruda, ⁵⁶the sons of Jaalah, Darkon, Giddel, ⁵⁷the sons of Shephatiah, Hattil, Pochereth-hazzebaim, Ami.

⁵⁸All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon’s servants totaled 392.

⁵⁹Now these are the ones who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they could not provide evidence of their fathers’ households and their descendants, whether they were of Israel: ⁶⁰the sons of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda, 652.

Priests Removed

⁶¹Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, of Hakkoz, and of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was known by their name.^(B) ⁶²These searched [for their names] among those registered in the genealogies, but they were not found; so they were excluded from the priesthood as [ceremonially] unclean. ⁶³The ^[i]governor told them that they should not eat of the most holy things [the priests’ food] until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim [who by consulting these articles in his breastplate could ^[j]determine God’s will in the matter].

⁶⁴The whole assembly totaled 42,360, ⁶⁵besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and [among them] they had 200 male and female singers. ⁶⁶Their horses totaled 736; their mules, 245; ⁶⁷their camels totaled 435; their donkeys, 6,720.

⁶⁸Some of the ^[k]heads of the fathers’ households (extended families), when they arrived at the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, made voluntary contributions for the house of God to rebuild it on its [old] foundation. ⁶⁹They gave according to their ability to the treasury for the work, 61,000 drachmas of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priestly [linen] garments.

⁷⁰So the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants settled in their [own] cities, and all Israel [gradually settled] into their cities.

Footnotes

Ezra 1:1 Cyrus the Great captured Babylon in Oct 539 b.c. This was about seventy years after the first Hebrew captives were taken to Babylon.
Ezra 1:1 Cyrus the Great established the Persian Empire and ruled from 559-530 b.c. His kingdom extended from Turkey in the west to the Indus River in the east, covering most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia. He was a great soldier as well as a wise and benevolent king, whose respect for religious freedom led to the return of the Hebrew captives to Jerusalem. Ancient historians report that the tomb assumed to be his was visited by Alexander the Great (356-323 b.c.) when he conquered Persepolis in 330 b.c. The tomb still exists among the ruins of Pasargadae in modern Iran.
Ezra 1:2 It is remarkable that Cyrus actually used God’s special name, the tetragrammaton YHWH (traditionally rendered “Lord”). Certainly Cyrus recognized the true God, but he probably considered Him as one of a number of existing gods, as was typical for a polytheist. For Cyrus God of heaven probably meant just that, along with God of Israel and the God who is in Jerusalem (v 3).
Ezra 1:5 The Hebrew verb “to stand” or “arise” is often an instruction to get ready to fulfill a command, somewhat similar to the military command “attention.”
Ezra 1:8 There is occasionally a debate over the identities of Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel. Sheshbazzar was an older Jewish official who was appointed by Cyrus and served in Judah (5:24). Zerubbabel was a younger man who was recognized as a political leader among the Jews. He was the son of Shealtiel and an ancestor of Jesus (5:2; Matt 1:12, 13).
Ezra 2:1 Tens of thousands of the Jews returned, but many of the exiles declined the offer and remained in Babylon.
Ezra 2:2 Not the author of the Book of Nehemiah.
Ezra 2:2 Not the relative of Esther.
Ezra 2:63 Heb Tirshatha, a Persian title. Probably either Sheshbazzar or Zerubbabel.
Ezra 2:63 But the effort doubtless would have been in vain. Long-standing disobedience had apparently caused Israel’s priests to forfeit the divine gift of guidance through Urim and Thummim, and it was never recovered. Except for a similar incident in Neh 7:65, Urim and Thummim are not again mentioned in the Scriptures. The higher revelation by the prophets superseded them as interpreters of the will of God (see also Ex 28:30; Amos 3:7).
Ezra 2:68 I.e. patriarchs.

Amplified Bible (AMP)