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Ezra
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1 In order to fulfill the Lord's prophecy given through Jeremiah, the Lord encouraged Cyrus, king of Persia, to issue a proclamation throughout his kingdom and also to put it in writing, saying, 2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, who has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, has given me the responsibility to build a Temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Anyone among you who belongs to his people can go to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. May your God be with you. 4 Wherever survivors are currently living, let them be helped by the people of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, together with a voluntary donation for God's Temple in Jerusalem.’ ”*This proclamation of Cyrus is also found at the end of 2 Chronicles.
5 Then God encouraged the family leaders of Judah and Benjamin, as well as the priests and Levites to go and rebuild the Lord's Temple in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors supported them with gifts of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with other valuable items, in addition to all their voluntary donations.
7 King Cyrus also retrieved the items belonging to the Lord's Temple that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and placed in the temple of his god. 8 Cyrus had Mithredath the treasurer retrieve them, who counted them and gave them to Sheshbazzar,†“Sheshbazzar”: some have identified Sheshbazzar (Babylonian name) with Zerubbabel (Hebrew name). the leader of Judah.
9 This was the list: 30 gold basins, 1,000 silver basins, 29 silver silverware, 10 30 gold bowls, 410 matching silver bowls, and 1,000 other items. 11 In total there were 5,400 gold and silver items. When the exiles left Babylon to go to Jerusalem Sheshbazzar took all these along with them.

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*1:4 This proclamation of Cyrus is also found at the end of 2 Chronicles.

†1:8 “Sheshbazzar”: some have identified Sheshbazzar (Babylonian name) with Zerubbabel (Hebrew name).

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher