He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

with three layers of large stones ¹  and one ²  layer of timber. The expense is to be subsidized ³  by the royal treasury. ⁴ 

and on the first day of the first month they finished considering all the men who had married foreign wives.

They appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their divisions over the worship of God at Jerusalem, ¹  in accord with ²  the book of Moses.

In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, ¹  in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work, ²  along with the rest of their associates, ³  the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed ⁴  the Levites who were at least twenty years old ⁵  to take charge of the work on the Lord’s temple.

From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ¹  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ²  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.

As they were able, ¹  they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 drachmas ²  of gold, 5,000 minas ³  of silver, and 100 priestly robes. ⁴ 

“Now Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar Bozenai, and their colleagues, the officials of Trans-Euphrates – all of you stay far away from there!

up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of olive oil, ¹  and unlimited ²  salt.

Then Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues acted accordingly – with precision, just as Darius the king had given instructions. ¹ 

Anyone who survives in any of those places where he is a resident foreigner must be helped by his neighbors ¹  with silver, gold, equipment, and animals, along with voluntary offerings for the temple of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

The governor ¹  instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult ²  the Urim and Thummim.

So Darius the king issued orders, and they searched in the archives ¹  of the treasury which were deposited there in Babylon.

All the men of Judah and Benjamin were gathered in Jerusalem within the three days. (It was in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of that month.) All the people sat in the square at the temple of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the rains.

Then King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the Lord’s temple which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and had displayed ¹  in the temple of his gods.

All these gold and silver vessels totaled 5,400. ¹  Sheshbazzar brought them all along when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak began ¹  to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ¹  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”