Ezra 1
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians, and he issued a proclamation through all his kingdom, and that in writing, saying,
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 Thus said Cyrus king of the Persians, The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has given me a charge to build him a house in Jerusalem that is in Judea.
“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 Who [is] there among you of all his people? for his God shall be with him, and he shall go up to Jerusalem that is in Judea, and let him build the house of the God of Israel: he [is] the God that is in Jerusalem.
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 And [let] every [Jew] that is left [go] from every place where he sojourns, and the men of his place shall help him with silver, and gold, and goods, and cattle, together with the voluntary offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
Wherever survivors are currently living, let them be helped by the people that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, together with a voluntary donation for God's Temple in Jerusalem.’”
5 Then the chiefs of the families of Juda and Benjamin arose, and the priests, and the Levites, all whose spirit the Lord stirred up to go up to build the house of the Lord that [is] in Jerusalem.
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 And all that were round about strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with cattle, and with presents, besides the voluntary offerings.
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 And king Cyrus brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nabuchodonosor had brought from Jerusalem, and put in the house of his god.
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 And Cyrus king of the Persians brought them out by the hand of Mithradates the treasurer, and he numbered them to Sasabasar, the chief man of Juda.
Cyrus had Mithredath the treasurer retrieve them, who counted them and gave them to Sheshbazzar, the leader of Judah.
9 And this [is] their number: thirty gold basons, and a thousand silver basons, nine and twenty changes, thirty golden goblets,
This was the list: 30 gold basins, 1,000 silver basins, 29 silver silverware,
10 and four hundred [and] ten double silver [vessels], and a thousand other vessels.
30 gold bowls, 410 matching silver bowls, and 1,000 other items.
11 All the gold and silver vessels were five thousand four hundred, [even] all that went up with Sasabasar from the [place of] transportation, from Babylon to Jerusalem.
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.
