Judah’s Decline
36 iThe people of the land took jJehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem. 2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent1 of gold. 4 kAnd the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco ltook Jehoahaz his brother and carried him mto Egypt.
5 nJehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He odid what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 6 pAgainst him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and qbound him in chains to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the rvessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
9 sJehoiachin was eighteen2 years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He tdid what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 10 In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and umade his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
11 vZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He wdid what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. xHe did not yhumble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. 13 zHe also arebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, bwho had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, cfollowing all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.
15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent dpersistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept emocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.
Jerusalem Captured and Burned
17 Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. 18 And all the fvessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 19 And they gburned the house of God and hbroke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. 20 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons iuntil the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 jto fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed kits Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill lseventy years.
The Proclamation of Cyrus
22 mNow in the first year of nCyrus king of Persia, othat the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: 23 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, phas given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and qhe has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’”
Ezra
The Proclamation of Cyrus
1 aIn the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, bthat the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the cGod of heaven, dhas given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and ehe has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and frebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God gwho is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each hsurvivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also ibrought out the jvessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to kSheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.
The Exiles Return
2 lNow these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles mwhom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. 2 They came with nZerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and oBaanah.
The number of the men of the people of Israel: 3 the sons of pParosh, 2,172. 4 The sons of qShephatiah, 372. 5 The sons of Arah, 775. 6 The sons of rPahath-moab, namely the sons of Jeshua and sJoab, 2,812. 7 The sons of tElam, 1,254. 8 The sons of uZattu, 945. 9 The sons of Zaccai, 760. 10 The sons of Bani, 642. 11 The sons of vBebai, 623. 12 The sons of wAzgad, 1,222. 13 The sons of xAdonikam, 666. 14 The sons of yBigvai, 2,056. 15 The sons of zAdin, 454. 16 The sons of aAter, namely of Hezekiah, 98. 17 The sons of bBezai, 323. 18 The sons of Jorah, 112. 19 The sons of Hashum, 223. 20 The sons of Gibbar, 95. 21 The sons of Bethlehem, 123. 22 The men of Netophah, 56. 23 The men of Anathoth, 128. 24 The sons of Azmaveth, 42. 25 The sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743. 26 The sons of Ramah and Geba, 621. 27 The men of Michmas, 122. 28 The men of Bethel and Ai, 223. 29 The sons of Nebo, 52. 30 The sons of Magbish, 156. 31 The sons of the other Elam, 1,254. 32 The sons of Harim, 320. 33 The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 725. 34 The sons of Jericho, 345. 35 The sons of Senaah, 3,630.
36 The priests: the sons of cJedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, 973. 37 The sons of Immer, 1,052. 38 The sons of dPashhur, 1,247. 39 The sons of Harim, 1,017.
40 The Levites: the sons of eJeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah, 74. 41 The singers: the fsons of Asaph, 128. 42 The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of gShallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of hTalmon, the sons of iAkkub, the sons of Hatita, and the sons of Shobai, in all 139.
43 The temple servants: the sons of jZiha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, 44 the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, 45 the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, 46 the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shamlai, the sons of Hanan, 47 the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah, 48 the sons of Rezin, the sons of kNekoda, the sons of Gazzam, 49 the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai, 50 the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephisim, 51 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, 52 the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, 53 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, 54 the sons of Neziah, and the sons of Hatipha.
55 The lsons of Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda, 56 the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, 57 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, and the sons of Ami.
58 All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon’s servants were 392.
59 The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, though they could not prove their fathers’ houses or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: 60 the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nekoda, 652. 61 Also, of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of mHakkoz, and the sons of Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name). 62 These sought their registration among those nenrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, oand so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 63 The pgovernor told them that they were qnot to partake of the most holy food, until there should be a priest to consult rUrim and Thummim.
64 The whole assembly together was 42,360, 65 besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337, and they had 200 male and female singers. 66 Their horses were 736, their mules were 245, 67 their camels were 435, and their donkeys were 6,720.
68 Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury of the work 61,000 darics1 of gold, 5,000 minas2 of silver, and 100 priests’ garments.
70 Now the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants slived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel3 in their towns.
Rebuilding the Altar
3 When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered tas one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then arose uJeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the valtar of the God of Israel, to offer wburnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 They set the altar in its place, for xfear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings ymorning and evening. 4 And they kept the zFeast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number aaccording to the rule, as each day required, 5 and after that the bregular burnt offerings, the offerings cat the new moon and dat all the eappointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a ffreewill offering to the Lord. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the gfoundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. 7 So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring hcedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the igrant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.
Rebuilding the Temple
8 Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, jfrom twenty years old and upward, to supervise the work of the house of the Lord. 9 And Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and brothers.
10 And when the builders klaid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, laccording to the directions of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,
m“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”
And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 nBut many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding
4 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of oEsarhaddon king of Assyria who pbrought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, q“You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, ras King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”
4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them safraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of tDarius king of Persia.
6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
The Letter to King Artaxerxes
7 In the days of uArtaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in vAramaic and translated.1 8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: 9 Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of wSusa, that is, the Elamites, 10 and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and xsettled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province yBeyond the River. 11 z(This is a copy of the letter that they sent.) “To Artaxerxes the king: Your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now 12 be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that arebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. 13 Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay btribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. 14 Now because we eat the salt of the palace2 and it is not fitting for us to witness the king’s dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, 15 in order that csearch may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste. 16 We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”
The King Orders the Work to Cease
17 The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now 18 the letter that you sent to us has been dplainly read before me. 19 And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. 20 And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, who ruled over the ewhole province Beyond the River, fto whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid. 21 Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. 22 And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”
23 Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. 24 Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased guntil the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
