Old/New Testament
6 ¶ Then Darius, the king, gave a commandment, and a search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.
2 And there was found in the coffer of the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written:
3 In the first year of Cyrus, the king, the same Cyrus, the king, gave a commandment concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, that the house be built as a place for sacrifices to be offered, and let the walls thereof be covered; the height thereof sixty cubits, and the breadth thereof sixty cubits;
4 the orders, three of stones of marble and one order of new timber and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house.
5 And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which was at Jerusalem and brought unto Babylon, be restored and go again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, to his place, and let them be placed in the house of God.
6 Now therefore, Tatnai, captain of the other side of the river, Shetharboznai, and your companions, the Apharsachites, who are on the other side of the river, remove yourselves from there.
7 Leave the work of this house of God unto the captain of the Jews and to their elders that they may build this house of God in his place.
8 And by me is given the commandment regarding what ye shall do with the elders of these Jews, to build this house of God: that of the king’s goods, of the tribute from the other side of the river, the expenses be given unto these men, that they not cease.
9 And that which they have need of, both young bullocks and rams and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day that they not cease:
10 that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.
11 It is also given by my commandment that whoever shall alter this word, let a timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged upon it, and let his house be made a dunghill for this.
12 And the God that has caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter or to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made the decree; let it be done with speed.
13 ¶ Then Tatnai, captain of the other side of the river, Shetharboznai, and their companions, speedily did according to that which Darius, the king, had sent.
14 And the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered according to the prophecy of Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and of Darius and of Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
15 And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, the king.
16 And the sons of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the sons of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,
17 and they offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and as the sin of all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
18 And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses over the work of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.
19 And the sons of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.
20 For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the sons of the captivity and for their brethren, the priests, and for themselves.
21 And the sons of Israel who had returned out of captivity and all those who had separated themselves unto them from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, ate
22 and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; for the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
7 ¶ Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the 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 first priest.
6 This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a diligent scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.
7 And there went up some of the sons of Israel and of the priests and the Levites and the singers and the porters and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, the king.
8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the seventh year of the king.
9 For upon the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.
10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD and to do it and to teach in Israel his statutes and judgments.
11 ¶ Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra, the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD and of his statutes over Israel.
12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra, the priest, perfect scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and to Cheenet.
13 By me is given commandment, that any of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, who desire of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
14 For thou art sent on behalf of the king and of his seven counsellors, to inquire of Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thy hand,
15 and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors freely offer unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,
16 and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, who offer willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem;
17 Therefore, with diligence thou shalt buy with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their presents and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
18 And whatever shall seem good to thee and to thy 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 thee for the service of the house of thy God, thou shalt restore before the God of Jerusalem.
20 And whatever else shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have need to bestow, bestow it out of the king’s treasure house.
21 And by me, Artaxerxes, the king, is given the commandment to all the treasurers who are on the other side of the river, that whatever Ezra, the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,
22 unto one hundred talents of silver and to one hundred measures of wheat and to one hundred baths of wine and to one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
23 Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be speedily done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
24 Also unto you we cause it to be known, that regarding all of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, and ministers of the house of this God, no one shall be able to impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them.
25 And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thy hand, set as judges and governors, who govern all the people that are on the other side of the river, all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach those that do not know them.
26 And whoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king, let them be judged speedily, whether it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment.
27 ¶ Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to honour the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem,
28 and has extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors and before all the king’s mighty princes. And I, comforted according to the hand of the LORD my God upon me, gathered together the principals of Israel to go up with me.
8 ¶ These are now the heads of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of those that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes, the king:
2 Of the sons of Phinehas; Gershon: of the sons of Ithamar; Daniel: of the sons of David; Hattush.
3 Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh; Zechariah: and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males one hundred and fifty.
4 Of the sons of Pahathmoab; Elihoenai, the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males.
5 Of the sons of Shechaniah; the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males.
6 Of the sons also of Adin; Ebed, the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males.
7 And of the sons of Elam; Jeshaiah, the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males.
8 And of the sons of Shephatiah; Zebadiah, the son of Michael, and with him eighty males.
9 Of the sons of Joab; Obadiah, the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males.
10 And of the sons of Shelomith; the son of Josiphiah, and with him one hundred and sixty males.
11 And of the sons of Bebai; Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males.
12 And of the sons of Azgad; Johanan, the son of Hakkatan, and with him one hundred and ten males.
13 And of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males.
14 Of the sons also of Bigvai; Uthai and Zabbud and with them seventy males.
15 And I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava, and there we encamped three days, and having searched among the people and the priests, I did not find there any of the sons of Levi.
16 Then I commissioned Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, principals, also Joiarib and Elnathan, men of understanding;
17 and I sent them unto Iddo, the captain at the place of Casiphia, and I put words in their mouth that they should speak unto Iddo and to his brethren, the Nethinims, at the place of Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers 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, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;
19 and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty;
20 also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the ministry of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinims: all of them were expressed by name.
21 ¶ Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance.
22 For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to defend us against the enemy in the way because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all those that seek him for good; but his power and his wrath is against all those that forsake him.
23 So we fasted and besought our God for this, and he was intreated of us.
24 ¶ Then I separated twelve of the principals of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them,
25 and weighed unto them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God, which the king and his counsellors and his princes and all those that were of Israel had offered.
26 I weighed, therefore, unto their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver and silver vessels of one hundred talents and of gold one hundred talents;
27 also twenty basins of gold, of a thousand drams, and two vessels of clean brass, precious as gold.
28 And I said unto them, Ye are holiness unto the LORD; the vessels are holiness also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering unto the LORD God of your fathers.
29 Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the princes of the priests and the Levites and of the princes of the fathers of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD.
30 The priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and of the gold and of the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.
31 ¶ And we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and of such as lay in wait by the way.
32 And we came to Jerusalem and abode there three days.
33 Now on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the priest; and with him was Eleazar, the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad, the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, the son of Binnui, Levites;
34 by number and by weight of each one; and all the weight was written at that time.
35 Those that had been carried away, the sons of the captivity, offered burnt offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he goats as sin; all this was a burnt offering unto the LORD.
36 And they delivered the king’s commissions unto the king’s lieutenants and captains of the other side the river, which favoured the people and the house of God.
21 ¶ After these things Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, and he manifested himself in this manner:
2 Simon Peter and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples were together.
3 Simon Peter said unto them, I am going fishing. They said unto him, Let us also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing.
4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not understand that it was Jesus.
5 Then Jesus said unto them, Children, have ye any food? They answered him, No.
6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right hand side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him (for he was naked) and cast himself into the sea.
8 And the other disciples came in the little ship (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits), dragging the net with the fishes.
9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and a fish laid thereon, and bread.
10 Jesus said unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three; and being so many, yet the net was not broken.
12 Jesus said unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples dared to ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
13 Jesus then came and took the bread and gave them, and the fish likewise.
14 This was now the third time that Jesus manifested himself to his disciples, after he was risen from the dead.
15 ¶ So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He said unto him, Yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He said unto him, Yes, Lord thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He said unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus said unto him, Feed my sheep.
18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou didst gird thyself and walk where thou wouldest, but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee where thou wouldest not.
19 This he spoke, signifying by what death he should clarify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, Follow me.
20 ¶ Then Peter, turning about, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrays thee?
21 Peter seeing him said to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
22 Jesus said unto him, If I will that he tarry until I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
23 Then this saying went abroad among the brethren that that disciple should not die; yet Jesus did not say unto him, He shall not die, but, If I will that he tarry until I come, what is that to thee?
24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they should be written every one, I think that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International