Old/New Testament

6 Then King Darius [I] decreed, and a search was made in Babylonia in the house where the treasured records were stored.

² And at Ecbatana in the capital in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was recorded:

³ In the first year of King Cyrus, [he] made a decree: Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let the house, the place where they offer sacrifices, be built, and let its foundations be strongly laid, its height and its breadth each 60 cubits,

⁴ With three courses of great stones and one course of new timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.

⁵ Also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple in Jerusalem, each put in its place in the house of God.

⁶ Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province [west of] the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates, the Apharsachites who are [west of] the River, keep far away from there.

⁷ Leave the work on this house of God alone; let the governor and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.

⁸ Moreover, I make a decree as to what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God: the cost is to be paid in full to these men at once from the king’s revenue, the tribute of the province [west of] the River, that they may not be hindered.

⁹ And all they need, including young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests at Jerusalem, let it be given them each day without fail,

¹⁰ That they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

¹¹ Also I make a decree that whoever shall change or infringe on this order, let a beam be pulled from his house and erected; then let him be fastened to it, and let his house be made a dunghill for this.

¹² May the God Who has caused His ^[a]Name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who put forth their hands to alter this or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be executed speedily and exactly.

¹³ Then Tattenai, governor of the province this side of the River, with Shethar-bozenai and their associates, diligently did what King Darius had decreed.

¹⁴ And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished their building as commanded by the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

¹⁵ And this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

¹⁶ And the Israelites—the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles—celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

¹⁷ They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 young bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and, for a sin offering for all Israel, 12 he-goats, according to the number of Israel’s tribes.

¹⁸ And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.

¹⁹ The returned exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

²⁰ For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they killed the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their brother priests, and for themselves.

²¹ It was eaten by the Israelites who had returned from exile and by all who had joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the peoples of the land to seek the Lord, the God of Israel.

²² They kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria [referring to Darius king of Persia] to them, so that he strengthened their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

7 Now ^[b]after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes [son of Xerxes, or Ahasuerus] king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,

² The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,

³ The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,

⁴ The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,

⁵ The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest—

⁶ This Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the five books of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. And the king granted him all he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.

⁷ And also some of the Israelites, with some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants, went up [from Babylon] to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

⁸ Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king.

⁹ On the first of the first month he started out from Babylon, and on the first of the fifth month he arrived in Jerusalem, for upon him was the good hand of his God.

¹⁰ For Ezra had ^[c]prepared and set his heart to seek the Law of the Lord [to inquire for it and of it, to require and yearn for it], and to do and teach in Israel its statutes and its ordinances.

¹¹ Now this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe [occupied with] the words of the commands of the Lord and of His statutes to Israel:

¹² Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, scribe of the instructions of the God of heaven: Greetings.

¹³ I make a decree that all of the people of Israel and of their priests and Levites in my realm, who offer freely to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you.

¹⁴ For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem according to the instruction of your God, which is in your hand,

¹⁵ And to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, Whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,

¹⁶ And all the silver and gold that you may find in all the province of Babylonia, with the freewill offerings of the people and of the priests, offered willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Therefore you shall with all speed and exactness buy with this money young bulls, rams, lambs, with their cereal offerings and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ And whatever shall seem good to you and to your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.

¹⁹ The vessels also that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, those deliver before the God of Jerusalem.

²⁰ And whatever more shall be needful for the house of your God which you shall have occasion to provide, provide it out of the king’s treasury.

²¹ And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province beyond the [Euphrates] River that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the instructions of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it shall be done exactly and at once—

²² Up to 100 talents of silver, 100 measures of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt not specified.

²³ Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done diligently and honorably for the house of the God of heaven, lest His wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.

²⁴ Also we notify you that as to any of the priests and Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on them.

²⁵ You, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God, which is [in His instructions] in your hand, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people [west] of the River; choose those who know the instructions of your God, and teach him who does not know them.

²⁶ And whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him exactly and speedily, whether it be unto death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment.

²⁷ Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers [said Ezra], Who put such a thing as this into the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,

²⁸ And Who has extended His mercy and steadfast love to me before the king, his counselors, and all the king’s mighty officers. I was strengthened and encouraged, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together outstanding men of Israel to go with me to Jerusalem.

8 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia in the reign of King Artaxerxes:

² Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of Ithamar, Daniel; of David, Hattush

³ Of the sons of Shecaniah; of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men by genealogy;

⁴ Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, with 200 men;

⁵ Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, with 300 men;

⁶ Of the sons of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, with 50 men;

⁷ Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, with 70 men;

⁸ Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, with 80 men;

⁹ Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, with 218 men;

¹⁰ Of the sons of [Bani], Shelomith son of Josiphiah, with 160 men;

¹¹ Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, with 28 men;

¹² Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, with 110 men;

¹³ Of the sons of Adonikam, the last to come, their names are Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, with 60 men;

¹⁴ Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud [Zaccur], with 70 men.

¹⁵ I [Ezra] gathered them together at the river that runs to Ahava, and there we encamped three days. I reviewed the people and the priests, and found no Levites.

¹⁶ Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, Meshullam, who were chief men, and also for Joiarib and Elnathan,who were teachers.

¹⁷ And I sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them to say to Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim [temple servants] at the place Casiphia, Bring to us servants for the house of our God.

¹⁸ And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, named Sherebiah, with his sons and his kinsmen, 18;

¹⁹ And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20;

²⁰ Also 220 of the Nethinim, whose forefathers David and the officials had set apart [with their descendants] to attend the Levites. They were all mentioned by name.

²¹ Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a straight and right way for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

²² For I was ashamed to request of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, The hand of our God is upon all them for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.

²³ So we fasted and besought our God for this, and He heard our entreaty.

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen,

²⁵ And weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God which the king, his counselors, his lords, and all Israel there present had offered.

²⁶ I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels valued at 100 talents, and 100 talents of gold;

²⁷ Also 20 basins of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze, precious as gold.

²⁸ And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord, the vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

²⁹ Guard and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel in Jerusalem in the chambers of the house of the Lord.

³⁰ So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver, the gold, and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem into the house of our God.

³¹ We left the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the enemy and those who lay in wait by the way.

³² And we came to Jerusalem, and [had been] there three days.

³³ On the fourth day, the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hands of Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them were Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui—the Levites.

³⁴ Every piece was counted and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at once.

³⁵ Also those returned exiles whose parents had been carried into captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve young bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve he-goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.

³⁶ And they delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s lieutenants and to the governors west of the River, and they aided the people and God’s house.

21 After this, Jesus let Himself be seen and revealed [Himself] again to the disciples, at the Sea of Tiberias. And He did it in this way:

² There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, called the Twin, and Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, also the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples.

³ Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing! They said to him, And we are coming with you! So they went out and got into the boat, and throughout that night they caught nothing.

⁴ Morning was already breaking when Jesus came to the beach and stood there. However, the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

⁵ So Jesus said to them, ^[a]Boys (children), you do not have any meat (fish), do you? [Have you caught anything to eat along with your bread?] They answered Him, No!

⁶ And He said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find [some]. So they cast the net, and now they were not able to haul it in for such a big catch (mass, quantity) of fish [was in it].

⁷ Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord! Simon Peter, hearing him say that it was the Lord, put (girded) on his upper garment (his fisherman’s coat, his outer tunic)—for he was stripped [for work]—and sprang into the sea.

⁸ And the other disciples came in the small boat, for they were not far from shore, only some hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.

⁹ When they got out on land (the beach), they saw a fire of coals there and fish lying on it [cooking], and bread.

¹⁰ Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.

¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net to land, full of large fish, 153 of them; and [though] there were so many of them, the net was not torn.

¹² Jesus said to them, Come [and] have breakfast. But none of the disciples ventured or dared to ask Him, Who are You? because they [well] knew that it was the Lord.

¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so also [with] the fish.

¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus revealed Himself (appeared, was manifest) to the disciples after He had risen from the dead.

¹⁵ When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do—with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. He said to him, Feed My lambs.

¹⁶ Again He said to him the second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. He said to him, Shepherd (tend) My sheep.

¹⁷ He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]? Peter was grieved (was saddened and hurt) that He should ask him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.

¹⁸ I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, when you were young you girded yourself [put on your own belt or girdle] and you walked about wherever you pleased to go. But when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will put a girdle around you and carry you where you do not wish to go.

¹⁹ He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. And after this, He said to him, Follow Me!

²⁰ But Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following—the one who also had leaned back on His breast at the supper and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray You?

²¹ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man?

²² Jesus said to him, If I want him to stay (survive, live) until I come, what is that to you? [What concern is it of yours?] You follow Me!

²³ So word went out among the brethren that this disciple was not going to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but, If I want him to stay (survive, live) till I come, what is that to you?

²⁴ It is this same disciple who is bearing witness to these things and who has recorded (written) them; and we [well] know that his testimony is true.

²⁵ And there are also many other things which Jesus did. If they should be all recorded one by one [in detail], I suppose that even the world itself could not contain (have room for) the books that would be written.