Deliver to ¹  the God of Jerusalem the vessels that are given to you for the service of the temple of your God.

Anyone from ¹  his people among you (may his God be with him!) may go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may build the temple of the Lord God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem.

Leave the work on this temple of God alone. ¹  Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this temple of God in its proper place.

So we fasted and prayed to our God about this, and he answered us.

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.

¹ “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the perfect law of the God of heaven:

Everything that the God of heaven has required should be precisely done for the temple of the God of heaven. Why should there be wrath ¹  against the empire of the king and his sons?

I prayed, ¹  “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens.

“And now what are we able to say after this, our God? For we have forsaken your commandments

But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, ¹  King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God.

so that they may be offering incense to the God of heaven and may be praying for the good fortune of the king and his family. ¹ 

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.

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin learned that the former exiles ¹  were building a temple for the Lord God of Israel,

He said to him, “Take these vessels and go deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt in its proper location.” ¹ 

The people ¹  of Israel – the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles ²  – observed the dedication of this temple of God with joy.

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.

and to bring silver and gold which the king and his advisers have freely contributed to the God of Israel, who resides in Jerusalem,

You may do whatever seems appropriate to you and your colleagues ¹  with the rest of the silver and the gold, in keeping with the will of your God.

Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents ¹  and from these foreign wives.”

Therefore let us enact ¹  a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, ²  and that of those who respect ³  the commandments of our God. And let it be done according to the law.