King Cyrus of Persia entrusted<n id="1" /> them to<n id="2" /> Mithredath<n id="3" /> the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar<n id="4" /> the leader of the Judahite exiles.<n id="5" />p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">In the first<n id="2" /> year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the <sc>Lord&#8217;ssc> message<n id="3" /> spoken through<n id="4" /> Jeremiah,<n id="5" /> the <sc>Lordsc> stirred the mind<n id="6" /> of King Cyrus of Persia. He disseminated<n id="7" /> a proclamation<n id="8" /> throughout his entire kingdom, announcing in a written edict<n id="9" /> the following:<n id="10" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and had displayed<n id="1" /> in the temple of his gods.

They were hiring advisers to oppose them, so as to frustrate their plans, throughout the time<n id="1" /> of King Cyrus of Persia until the reign of King Darius<n id="2" /> of Persia.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Thus says King Cyrus of Persia:p> <p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has instructed me to build a temple<n id="1" /> for him in Jerusalem,<n id="2" /> which is in Judah.

<t /><p class="bodytext">So they provided money<n id="1" /> for the masons and carpenters, and food, beverages, and olive oil for the people of Sidon<n id="2" /> and Tyre,<n id="3" /> so that they would bring cedar timber from Lebanon to the seaport<n id="4" /> at Joppa, in accord with the edict of King Cyrus of Persia.

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, &#8220;You have no right<n id="1" /> to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.&#8221;