Jerusalem

When the text of King Artach'shashta's letter was read before Rechum, Shimshai the secretary and their colleagues, they hurried to Yerushalayim to the Judeans and stopped their work by force of arms.

So the work on the house of God in Yerushalayim ceased; it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Daryavesh king of Persia.

The prophets Hagai and Z'kharyah the son of 'Iddo prophesied to the Judeans in Yerushalayim and Y'hudah; they prophesied to them in the name of the God of Isra'el.

Then Z'rubavel the son of Sh'alti'el and Yeshua the son of Yotzadak began rebuilding the house of God in Yerushalayim; with them were the prophets of God, helping them.

Moreover, the gold and silver articles belonging to the house of God, which N'vukhadnetzar had removed from the temple in Yerushalayim and brought to the temple of Bavel, Koresh the king took out of the temple in Bavel; they were turned over to a man named Sheshbatzar, whom he had appointed governor.

He said to him, "Take these articles, go, put them in the temple in Yerushalayim, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site."

So this same Sheshbatzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Yerushalayim; it has been under construction ever since, and it isn't finished yet.

"'Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the royal treasury there in Bavel to determine whether a decree was issued by Koresh the king to rebuild this house of God in Yerushalayim; and let the king send us his decision concerning this matter.'"

"In the first year of Koresh the king, Koresh the king issued this decree: 'Concerning the house of God in Yerushalayim, let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offer sacrifices; and let its foundations be firmly laid. Its height is to be ninety feet and its breadth ninety feet,

Also let the gold and silver articles belonging to the house of God, which N'vukhadnetzar removed from the temple at Yerushalayim and brought to Bavel, be restored and returned to the temple in Yerushalayim, each item to its place; and you are to put them in the house of God.'

Whatever they need - young bulls, rams and lambs - for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, according to what the cohanim in Yerushalayim say, is to be given them daily without fail;

May the God who has caused his name to be there overthrow any king or people that tries to defy it and destroy this house of God in Yerushalayim. "I, Daryavesh, have issued this order. Let it be carried out to the letter."

Then they installed the cohanim in their divisions and the L'vi'im in their orders for the service of God in Yerushalayim, as written in the book of Moshe.

In the seventh year of Artach'shashta the king, some of the people of Isra'el, and some of the cohanim, L'vi'im, singers, gatekeepers and temple servants went up to Yerushalayim.

['Ezra] arrived at Yerushalayim in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king.

He began going up to Yerushalayim from Bavel on the first day of the first month and arrived on the first day of the fifth month, since the good hand of his God was on him.

I decree that everyone in my realm who belongs to the people of Isra'el, including their cohanim and L'vi'im, who, of his own free will, chooses to go with you to Yerushalayim, should go.

You are being sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire how the law of your God, of which you have expert knowledge, is being applied in Y'hudah and Yerushalayim.

You are also to bring with you the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have voluntarily offered to the God of Isra'el, whose dwelling is in Yerushalayim;

together with all the silver and gold you receive throughout the province of Bavel and the voluntary offerings of the people and the cohanim that have been offered willingly for the house of their God in Yerushalayim.

"You are to spend this money carefully on young bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and drink offerings; and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Yerushalayim.

"The articles given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver to the God of Yerushalayim.

Blessed be ADONAI, the God of our ancestors, who has put such a thing as this in the heart of the king, to restore the beauty of the house of ADONAI in Yerushalayim,

Guard them carefully, until you weigh them before the chief cohanim and L'vi'im and the leaders of the fathers'clans in Yerushalayim, in the rooms of the house of ADONAI."

So the cohanim and L'vi'im received the consignment of silver and gold and the articles to bring to Yerushalayim, to the house of our God.