¹Now in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, so that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah  ²stirred up the spirit of  ³Cyrus the king of Persia; and he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying,

Thus says Cyrus the king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah the God of heaven given to me; and He has charged me to build Him a  ¹house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Whoever there 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 let him build the house of Jehovah the God of Israel — He is God — who is in Jerusalem.

And everyone who is left, in whatever place he sojourns, let the men of his place support him with silver and with gold and with goods and with cattle, besides the freewill offering for the house of God, which is in Jerusalem.

Then the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites rose up, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred up to go up to build the house of Jehovah, which is in Jerusalem.

And all those around them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with cattle and with precious things, besides all that was offered willingly.

Also King Cyrus brought out the  ¹vessels of the house of Jehovah, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought out from Jerusalem and had put in the house of his gods;

And Cyrus the king of Persia had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer and had them enumerated to  ¹Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

And this was their number: thirty gold dishes, one thousand silver dishes, twenty-nine knives,

Thirty gold bowls, four hundred ten silver bowls of a different kind, and one thousand other vessels.

There were five thousand four hundred vessels of gold and silver in all. Sheshbazzar brought up all of them with those of the captivity who were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Now these were the children of the province who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each man to his city.

These came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two.

The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy-two.

The children of Arah, seven hundred seventy-five.

The children of Pahath-moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred twelve.

The children of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.

The children of Zattu, nine hundred forty-five.

The children of Zaccai, seven hundred sixty.

The children of Bani, six hundred forty-two.

The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty-three.

The children of Azgad, one thousand two hundred twenty-two.

The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-six.

The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty-six.

The children of Adin, four hundred fifty-four.

The children of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight.

The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty-three.

The children of Jorah, one hundred twelve.

The children of Hashum, two hundred twenty-three.

The children of Gibbar, ninety-five.

The children of Bethlehem, one hundred twenty-three.

The men of Netophah, fifty-six.

The men of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight.

The children of Azmaveth, forty-two.

The children of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three.

The children of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one.

The men of Michmas, one hundred twenty-two.

The men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred twenty-three.

The children of Nebo, fifty-two.

The children of Magbish, one hundred fifty-six.

The children of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.

The children of Harim, three hundred twenty.

The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty-five.

The children of Jericho, three hundred forty-five.

The children of Senaah, three thousand six hundred thirty.

The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy-three.

The children of Immer, one thousand fifty-two.

The children of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven.

The children of Harim, one thousand seventeen.

The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy-four.

The singers: the children of Asaph, one hundred twenty-eight.

The children of the gatekeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, in all one hundred thirty-nine.

The temple servants: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,

The children of Keros, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon,

The children of Lebanah, the children of Hagabah, the children of Akkub.

The children of Hagab, the children of Shamlai, the children of Hanan,

The children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, the children of Reaiah,

The children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, the children of Gazzam,

The children of Uzza, the children of Paseah, the children of Besai,

The children of Asnah, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephisim,

The children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur,

The children of Bazluth, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha,

The children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Temah,

The children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha.

The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Hassophereth, the children of Peruda,

The children of Jaalah, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel,

The children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the children of Ami.

All the temple servants and the children of Solomon's servants were three hundred ninety-two.

And these were those who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; but they could not give evidence of their fathers' houses nor their descendants, whether they were of Israel:

The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty-two.

And of the children of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who took a wife from among the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name.

These sought their registry among those who were enrolled by genealogy, but they were not found; therefore they were considered defiled and were excluded from the priesthood.

And the governor told them that they should not eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim.

The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty,

Besides their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; and they had two hundred male singers and female singers.

Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five;

Their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty.

And some of the heads of fathers' houses, when they came to the house of Jehovah, which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to restore it on its foundation.

They gave to the treasury of the work, according to their ability, sixty-one thousand darics of gold and five thousand minas of silver and one hundred priestly garments.

So the priests and the Levites and some of the people and the singers and the gatekeepers and the temple servants and all Israel dwelt in their cities.

And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.

Then  ¹Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up, along with his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.

And they set up the altar upon its bases, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Jehovah, burnt offerings of the morning and evening.

And they held the  ¹Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinance as the duty of every day required;

And afterward they offered the continual burnt offering and the offerings of the new moons and of all the appointed feasts of Jehovah that were sanctified and of everyone who offered willingly a freewill offering to Jehovah.

From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer up burnt offerings to Jehovah;

however the foundation of the temple of Jehovah had not yet been laid.

They also gave money to the stone hewers and to the carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa according to the authorization granted them by Cyrus the king of Persia.

Now in the second year after they came to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers, the priests and the Levites, and all those who came out of captivity to Jerusalem began by appointing the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have oversight over the work of the house of Jehovah.

Then Jeshua stood with his sons and his brothers, as one man, with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, and with the sons of Henadad and their sons and their brothers the Levites, to have oversight over the workmen in the house of God.

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Jehovah, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise Jehovah according to the directions of David the king of Israel.

And they sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Jehovah, saying, For He is good, for His lovingkindness is forever upon Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised Jehovah, because the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid.

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, the old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes; and many shouted aloud for joy,

So that the people could not discern the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.