Ezra 1
1 In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, Yahweh fulfilled his word that came from the mouth of Jeremiah, and stirred Cyrus's spirit. Cyrus' voice went out over his entire kingdom. This is what was written and spoken:
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 “Cyrus, king of Persia, says: Yahweh, God of Heaven, gave me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he appointed me to build for him a house in Jerusalem 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 Whoever is from his people (may his God be with him) may go up to Jerusalem and build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God who 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 People of any part of the kingdom where survivors of that land are living should provide them with silver and gold, possessions and animals, as well as a freewill offering for God's house 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 heads of the ancestors' clans of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and Levites, and everyone whose spirit God stirred to go and build his house arose.
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 Those around them supported their work with silver and gold objects, possessions, animals, valuables, and freewill 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 Cyrus king of Persia also released the objects belonging to Yahweh's house that Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and put in his own gods' houses.
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 put them into the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out for Sheshbazzar, Judea's leader.
Cyrus had Mithredath the treasurer retrieve them, who counted them and gave them to Sheshbazzar, the leader of Judah.
9 This was their number: thirty gold basins, one thousand silver basins, twenty-nine other basins,
This was the list: 30 gold basins, 1,000 silver basins, 29 silver silverware,
10 thirty gold bowls, 410 small silver bowls, and one thousand additional objects.
30 gold bowls, 410 matching silver bowls, and 1,000 other items.
11 There were 5,400 gold and silver items in all. Sheshbazzar brought all of them when the exiles went 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.
