Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Prayer for Breaking Away from the Treacherous.

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

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. ³ Whoever 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. ⁴ In 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

⁵ Then 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. ⁶ All 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. ⁷ Also 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. ⁸ And Cyrus, king of Persia, had Mithredath the treasurer bring them out, and he counted them out to ^[e]Sheshbazzar, the governor (leader) of Judah. ⁹ And they counted: 30 dishes (basins) of gold, 1,000 dishes of silver, 29 duplicates; ¹⁰ 30 [small] gold bowls, 410 [small] silver bowls of a second kind, and 1,000 other articles. ¹¹ All 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.

Paul’s Integrity

¹² This is our [reason for] proud confidence: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world [in general], and especially toward you, with pure motives and godly sincerity, not in human wisdom, but in the grace of God [that is, His gracious lovingkindness that leads people to Christ and spiritual maturity]. ¹³ For we write you nothing other than what you read and understand [there is no double meaning in what we say]. And I hope you will [accurately] understand [divine things] until the end; ¹⁴ just as you have [already] partially understood us, [and one day will recognize] that you can be proud of us just as we are of you, in the day of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁵ It was with this confidence that I planned at first to visit you, so that you might receive twice a token of grace; ¹⁶ that is, [I wanted] to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and [then] to come back to you [on my return] from Macedonia, and have you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ So then, was I indecisive or capricious when I was [originally] planning this? Or the things I plan, do I plan ^[a]in a self-serving way like a worldly man, ready to say, “Yes, yes” and “No, no” [at the same time]? ¹⁸ But [as surely as] God is faithful and means what He says, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No” [at the same time]. ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but has proved to be “Yes” in Him [true and faithful, the divine “Yes” affirming God’s promises].