When he prayed to the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> responded to him<n id="3" /> and answered favorably<n id="4" /> his cry for mercy. The <sc>Lordsc><n id="5" /> brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the <sc>Lordsc> is the true God.p>

he tore down the altars and Asherah poles, demolished the idols, and smashed all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> He did evil in the sight of<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> his God.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Jehoiachin was eighteen<n id="1" /> years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem.<n id="2" /> He did evil in the sight of<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc>.

All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations.<n id="1" /> They defiled the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.p>

They burned down the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and tore down the wall of Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> They burned all its fortified buildings and destroyed all its valuable items.

<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.

<p class="bodytext">All these gold and silver vessels totaled 5,400.<n id="1" /> Sheshbazzar brought them all along when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">These are the people<n id="2" /> of the province who were going up,<n id="3" /> from the captives of the exile whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had forced into exile in Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem<n id="4" /> and Judah, each to his own city.

When they came to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders<n id="1" /> offered voluntary offerings for the temple of God in order to rebuild<n id="2" /> it on its site.

<t /><p class="bodytext">When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites<n id="1" /> were living<n id="2" /> in their<n id="3" /> towns, the people assembled<n id="4" /> in<n id="5" /> Jerusalem.<n id="6" />

In the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, Ezra brought<n id="1" /> up to Jerusalem<n id="2" /> some of the Israelites and some of the priests, the Levites, the attendants, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants.

On the first day of the first month he had determined to make<n id="1" /> the ascent from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem,<n id="2" /> for the good hand of his God was on him.

<n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Blessed be the <sc>Lordsc> God of our fathers, who so moved in the heart of the king to so honor the temple of the <sc>Lordsc> which is in Jerusalem!

Be careful with them and protect them, until you weigh them out before the leading priests and the Levites and the family leaders of Israel in Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> in the storerooms of the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;p>

Hanani, who was one of my relatives,<n id="1" /> along with some of the men from Judah, came to me,<n id="2" /> and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">They said to me, &#8220;The remnant that remains from the exile there in the province are experiencing considerable<n id="1" /> adversity and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been burned down!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

At that time I instructed<n id="1" /> the people, &#8220;Let every man and his coworker spend the night in Jerusalem and let them be guards for us by night and workers by day.

You have also established prophets to announce<n id="1" /> in Jerusalem<n id="2" /> on your behalf, &#8216;We have a king in Judah!&#8217; Now the king is going to hear about these rumors. So come on! Let&#8217;s talk about this.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

I then put in charge over Jerusalem<n id="1" /> my brother Hanani and Hananiah<n id="2" /> the chief of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many do.