The Proclamation of Cyrus
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord, through Jeremiah’s mouth, might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
2 “Cyrus king of Persia says,
‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever there is among you, of all his people, may his God be with him, and may he go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 Whoever is left, in any place where he lives, let the men of his place help him with silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, in addition to the free will offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’ ”
The Exiles Plan Their Return
5 Then the heads of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, all whose spirit the Lord had stirred to go up, rose up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. 6 All those who were around them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with animals, and with precious things, in addition to all that was willingly offered.
Cyrus Restores the Holy Vessels
7 Also Cyrus the king brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought out of Jerusalem and had put in the house of his gods. 8 Those, Cyrus king of Persia brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasure and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 This is the number of them:
30 platters of gold
1,000 platters of silver
29 knives,
10 30 bowls of gold
410 silver bowls of a second sort, and
1,000 other vessels.
11 There were 5,400 vessels of gold and silver in all.
Sheshbazzar brought all these up when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.