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EZRA 1
page 416
Key verses in Ezra
1:3 “Any of you who are his people
may go to Jerusalem in Judah to
rebuild this Temple of the Lord,
the God of Israel, who lives in
Jerusalem. And may your God
be with you!”
3:11 With praise and thanks,
they sang this song to the Lord:
“He is so good! His faithful love
for Israel endures forever!” Then
all the people gave a great shout,
praising the Lord because the
foundation of the Lord’s Temple
had been laid.
6:22 There was great joy
throughout the land because
the Lord had caused the king of
Assyria to be favorable to them,
so that he helped them to rebuild
the Temple of God.
7:9-10 For the gracious hand of
his God was on him . . . because
Ezra had determined to study
Cyrus Allows the Exiles to Return
In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia,* the
Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given
through Jeremiah.* He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to
send it throughout his kingdom:
1
2 “This
is what King Cyrus of Persia says:
“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given
me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has
appointed me to build him a Temple at
Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Any of you
who are his people may go to Jerusalem in
Judah to rebuild this Temple of the Lord,
the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem.
And may your God be with you! 4 Wherever
this Jewish remnant is found, let their
neighbors contribute toward their expenses
by giving them silver and gold, supplies
for the journey, and livestock, as well as a
voluntary offering for the Temple of God
in Jerusalem.”
5 Then God stirred the hearts of the priests
and Levites and the leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to go to Jerusalem to rebuild
the Temple of the Lord. 6 And all their neighbors
assisted by giving them articles of silver and
gold, supplies for the journey, and livestock.
They gave them many valuable gifts in addition
to all the voluntary offerings.
7 King Cyrus himself brought out the articles
that King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from
the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem and had
placed in the temple of his own gods. 8 Cyrus
directed Mithredath, the treasurer of Persia, to
count these items and present them to Sheshbazzar, the leader of the exiles returning to
Judah.* 9 This is a list of the items that were
returned:
gold basins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
silver basins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000
silver incense burners* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
10 gold bowls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
and obey the Law of the Lord
and to teach those decrees and
regulations to the people of
Israel.
9:8 “But now we have been given
a brief moment of grace, for the
Lord our God has allowed a few of
us to survive as a remnant. He has
given us security in this holy place.
Our God has brightened our eyes
and granted us some relief from
our slavery.”
silver bowls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .410
other items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000
11 In
all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and
silver. Sheshbazzar brought all of these along
when the exiles went from Babylon to Jerusalem.
Exiles Who Returned with Zerubbabel
Here is the list of the Jewish exiles of the
provinces who returned from their captivity. King Nebuchadnezzar had deported them
to Babylon, but now they returned to Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah where they
originally lived. 2 Their leaders were Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah,
Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and
Baanah.
2
This is the number of the men of Israel who returned from exile:
3 The family of Parosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,172
4 The family of Shephatiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
5 The family of Arah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
6 The family of Pahath-moab
(descendants of Jeshua and Joab) . . . 2,812
7 The family of Elam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,254
8 The family of Zattu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .945
9 The family of Zaccai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760
10 The family of Bani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .642
11 The family of Bebai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .623
12 The family of Azgad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,222
13 The family of Adonikam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
14 The family of Bigvai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,056
15 The family of Adin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .454
16 The family of Ater
(descendants of Hezekiah) . . . . . . . . . . 98
17 The family of Bezai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
18 The family of Jorah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
19 The family of Hashum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
20 The family of Gibbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
21 The people of Bethlehem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
22 The people of Netophah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
1:1a The first year of Cyrus’s reign over Babylon was 538 b.c.
1:1b See Jer 25:11-12; 29:10. 1:8 Hebrew Sheshbazzar, the
prince of Judah. 1:9 The meaning of this Hebrew word is
uncertain.