The Decree of Cyrus

1Ina the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah,b the Lord roused the spiritc of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:

2This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.a 3Any of his people among you, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel,a the God who is in Jerusalem. 4Let every survivor,a wherever he resides, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.”

Return from Exile

5So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites — everyone whose spirit God had rouseda — prepared to go up and rebuild the Lord’s house in Jerusalem. 6All their neighbors supported thema a with silver articles, gold, goods, livestock, and valuables, in addition to all that was given as a freewill offering. 7King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the house of his gods.a 8King Cyrus of Persia had them brought out under the supervision of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.a 9This was the inventory:

1. 30 gold basins, 1,000 silver basins,
2. 29 silver knives, 1030 gold bowls,
3. 410 variousA silver bowls, and 1,000 other articles.

11The gold and silver articles totaled 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought all of them when the exiles went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.