Ezra, 1

1. In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing:

1. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia -- to fulfil the word of Yahweh spoken through Jeremiah -Yahweh roused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue a proclamation and to have it publicly displayed throughout his kingdom:

2. "Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: 'All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

2. 'Cyrus king of Persia says this, "Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, in Judah.

3. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!

3. Whoever among you belongs to the full tally of his people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem, in Judah, and build the Temple of Yahweh, God of Israel, who is the God in Jerusalem.

4. Let everyone who has survived, in whatever place he may have dwelt, be assisted by the people of that place with silver, gold, goods, and cattle, together with free-will offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.'"

4. And let each survivor, wherever he lives, be helped by the people of his locality with silver, gold, equipment and riding beasts, as well as voluntary offerings for the Temple of God which is in Jerusalem." '

5. Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites--everyone, that is, whom God had inspired to do so--prepared to go up to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

5. Then the heads of families of Judah and of Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, in fact all whose spirit had been roused by God, prepared to go and rebuild the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem;

6. All their neighbors gave them help in every way, with silver, gold, goods, and cattle, and with many precious gifts besides all their free-will offerings.

6. and all their neighbours gave them every kind of help: silver, gold, equipment, riding beasts and valuable presents, in addition to their voluntary offerings.

7. King Cyrus, too, had the utensils of the house of the LORD brought forth which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his god.

7. Furthermore, King Cyrus handed over the articles belonging to the Temple of Yahweh which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his god.

8. Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought forth by the treasurer Mithredath, and counted out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

8. Cyrus king of Persia handed them over to Mithredath the treasurer who checked them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

9. This was the inventory: sacks of goldware, thirty; sacks of silverware, one thousand and twenty-nine;

9. The inventory was as follows: thirty gold dishes; one thousand silver dishes, twenty-nine repaired;

10. golden bowls, thirty; silver bowls, four hundred and ten; other ware, one thousand pieces.

10. thirty gold bowls; a thousand silver bowls, four hundred and ten damaged; one thousand other articles.

11. Total of the gold-and silver ware: five thousand four hundred pieces. All these Sheshbazzar took with him when the exiles were brought back from Babylon to Jerusalem.

11. In all, five thousand four hundred articles of gold and silver. Sheshbazzar took all these with him when he led the exiles back from Babylon to Jerusalem.