Ezra 1

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, the LORD stirred his spirit to issue a written proclamation authorizing the exiles to return to Jerusalem in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel. Cyrus invited the people to go to Jerusalem and instructed their neighbors to assist them with silver, gold, goods, livestock, and freewill offerings. Consequently, the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, the priests, and the Levites prepared for the journey, supported by their neighbors with various valuables and gifts. Furthermore, King Cyrus had the temple articles that Nebuchadnezzar had previously taken from Jerusalem brought out and handed over to Mithredath the treasurer, who then counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. This inventory totaled 5,400 gold and silver items, which Sheshbazzar brought along with the other exiles as they traveled from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows: ²“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. ³Whoever among you belongs to His people, 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; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴And let every survivor, wherever he lives, 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.’” ⁵So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had stirred—prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. ⁶And all their neighbors supported them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuables, in addition to all their freewill offerings. ⁷King Cyrus also brought out the articles belonging to the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the temple of his gods. ⁸Cyrus king of Persia had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. ⁹This was the inventory: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 silver utensils, ¹⁰30 gold bowls, 410 matching silver bowls, and 1,000 other articles. ¹¹In all, there were 5,400 gold and silver articles. Sheshbazzar brought all these along when the exiles went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Test this chapter

Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.