Let the king also be aware that if this city is built and its walls are completed, no more tax, custom, or toll will be paid, and the royal treasury ¹  will suffer loss.

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.

All the assembly replied in a loud voice: “We will do just as you have said! ¹ 

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.”

We therefore are informing the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, you will not retain control ¹  of this portion of Trans-Euphrates.”

Everyone who does not observe both the law of your God and the law of the king will be completely ¹  liable to the appropriate penalty, whether it is death or banishment or confiscation of property or detainment in prison.”

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, “You have no right ¹  to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”

Get up, for this matter concerns you. We are with you, so be strong and act decisively!”

so that he may initiate a search of the records ¹  of his predecessors ²  and discover in those records ³  that this city is rebellious ⁴  and injurious to both kings and provinces, producing internal revolts ⁵  from long ago. ⁶  It is for this very reason that this city was destroyed.

along with all the silver and gold that you may collect ¹  throughout all the province of Babylon and the contributions of the people and the priests for the temple of their God which is in Jerusalem.

All their neighbors assisted ¹  them with silver utensils, ²  gold, equipment, animals, and expensive gifts, not to mention ³  all the voluntary offerings.

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 

“I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled ¹  on it, and his house is to be reduced ²  to a rubbish heap ³  for this indiscretion. ⁴ 

Afterward they offered the continual burnt offerings and those for the new moons and those for all the holy assemblies of the Lord and all those that were being voluntarily offered to the Lord.

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?

Furthermore, be aware of the fact ¹  that you have no authority to impose tax, tribute, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the musicians, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or the attendants at the temple of this 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 

In the first year of his reign, ¹  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ²  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. ³  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety ⁴  feet, ⁵ 

“I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs are to be given to these men, so that there may be no interruption of the work. ¹ 

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.