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Ezra 1

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Cyrus' Proclamation to Rebuild the Temple 1–4

1
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, ​
2
Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ​
3
Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. ​
4
And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. ​

The Exiles Prepare to Return 5–6

5
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. ​
6
And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.

The Restoration of the Temple Vessels 7–11

7
Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; ​
8
Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. ​
9
And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,
10
Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.
11
All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezra 1

Verse 1

the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus — The book opens where 2 Chr 36:22 stops, and the cause is the word ‘by the mouth of Jeremiah’ (Jer 29:10, seventy years at Babylon). Isaiah had called Cyrus the LORD’s ‘anointed’ (Isa 45:1). ‘Made a proclamation’ is literally ‘caused a voice to pass’ (abar, qol). ‘The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD’ (Prov 21:1).

Verse 2

The LORD God of heaven — Abraham used this title, ‘The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house’ (Gen 24:7). Cyrus applies it to the God who ‘hath charged me to build him an house’. Isaiah had written the charge beforehand: Cyrus ‘shall perform all my pleasure… to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid’ (Isa 44:28), and ‘he shall build my city’ (Isa 45:13).

Verse 3

let him go up to Jerusalem — Alah, to go up, is the verb of pilgrimage, ‘whither the tribes go up’ (Ps 122:4), and here of the return itself. The invitation is to ‘all his people’. The parenthesis ‘(he is the God)’ echoes the cry on Carmel, ‘The LORD, he is the God’ (1 Kgs 18:39), and the house is the one Cyrus was charged to build (v.2).

Verse 4

beside the freewill offering — Nedabah is the freewill gift, the word of the ‘willing offering’ for the tabernacle (Ex 35:29). Those who stay are to help those who go with silver, gold, ‘goods’ (rekush, property) and beasts, as the Egyptians once gave Israel ‘jewels of silver, and jewels of gold’ (Ex 12:35). Verse 6 shows it done.

Verse 5

whose spirit God had raised — The verb ur is the one in v.1: the LORD who ‘stirred up the spirit of Cyrus’ raises the spirit of those who go up. The leaders come from Judah and Benjamin, the tribes that stayed with Rehoboam (1 Kgs 12:21), with the priests and Levites. ‘It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do’ (Phil 2:13).

Verse 7

Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels — Yatsa, to bring out, is used twice in the verse: Nebuchadnezzar had brought the vessels out of Jerusalem (2 Chr 36:7, 10) and Cyrus now brings them out of ‘the house of his gods’. Belshazzar had drunk from them (Dan 5:2–4). Cyrus’s decree, found at Achmetha, orders their return (Ezra 6:2–5).

Verse 8

Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah — Nasi is a chief, the word for the princes of the tribes who offered at the tabernacle (Num 7:2). Ezra 5:14 says Cyrus ‘had made governor’ the man to whom the vessels were delivered, and 5:16 that he ‘laid the foundation of the house of God’. Mithredath the treasurer hands them over, and they are counted out to him.

Verse 11

five thousand and four hundred — The vessels are ‘brought up’ (alah) with ‘them of the captivity’ (golah), the exiles as one body, called ‘the children of the captivity’ in Ezra 6:19. Verses 9–10 list the kinds: chargers of gold and silver, knives, basons and ‘other vessels a thousand’. Sheshbazzar is named again as the one who brings them.