Uzair 1

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the Word of YAHWEH1 by the mouth of Armiya2 might be accomplished, YAHWEH 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,

2Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “YAHWEH, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah, and build the House of YAHWEH God of Israel (he is God3), which is in Jerusalem. 4Whoever is left, in any place where he resides, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with animals, besides the freewill-offering for the House of God which is in Jerusalem.”

5Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Binyamin4, and the priests, and the Levites5, even all whose spirit God had stirred, rose up to go and build the House of YAHWEH in Jerusalem. 6All those who were around them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. 7Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the House of YAHWEH, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put in the house of his gods; 8even those Cyrus king of Persia brought forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9This is the number of them: thirty platters of gold, one thousand platters of silver, twenty-nine knives, 10thirty bowls of gold, silver bowls of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels one thousand. 11All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar brought up, when they of the captivity were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

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  1. 1:1 YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎
  2. 1:1 Armiya, or Jeremiah, from the Hebrew name Yirmeyah, which means “YAHWEH will exalt.” ↩︎
  3. 1:3 God, English translation of elohim. Elohim (Hebrew) is related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
  4. 1:5 Binyamin, or Benjamin, derived from the Hebrew name Benyamin, meaning “Son of the right hand.”  ↩︎
  5. 1:5 Levites, the descendants of Levi, one of the 12 sons of Prophet Yaqub (Jacob), from whose family line came all the priests who served in the Holy House of God, the Temple at Jerusalem. ↩︎