RETURNING,
AND REBUILDING
THE TEMPLE
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E Z R A
CHAPTERS 1-10 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:
THIS IS WHAT CYRUS
KING OF PERSIA SAYS:The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.
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"Cyrus the Great"
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"Cyrus the Great"
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"Cyrus the Great"
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"Cyrus"
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JOHANN ANDREAS THELOT
"Cyrus Freeing the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity"
Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings. Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god. In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along when the exiles came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
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GUSTAVE DORÉ
"Cyrus Restoring the Vessels of the Temple"
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FERDINAND BOL
"King Cyrus Handing over the Treasure
Looted from the Temple of Jerusalem"
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"Ezra’s Journey to Jerusalem"
Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town). The whole company numbered 42,360, besides their 7,337 menservants and maidservants. When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site. When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem. They began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, though the foundation of the LORD’s temple had not yet been laid. Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia. They began the work, appointing Levites twenty years of age and older to supervise the building of the house of the LORD. When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: “He is good;
his love to Israel
endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.
14
"Inauguration of the Foundations
of the Second Temple of Jerusalem"
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JULIUS SCHNORR VON CAROLSFELD
"Founding of the New Temple in Jerusalem"
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GUSTAVE DORÉ
"The Rebuilding of the Temple Is Begun"
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"Zerubbabel Supervises the Construction of the Second Temple"
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So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.
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ARYEH WEISS
"The Second Temple: Jerusalem"
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ARYEH WEISS
"The Second Temple: Pilgrims"
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ARYEH WEISS
"The Second Temple: Cohen"
After these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him. This is a copy of the letter King Artaxerxes had given to Ezra: Artaxerxes, king of kings,
To Ezra the priest, a teacher of the Law of the God of heaven: Greetings. Now I decree that any of the Israelites in my kingdom, including priests and Levites, who wish to go to Jerusalem with you, may go. Deliver to the God of Jerusalem all the articles entrusted to you for worship in the temple of your God. And anything else needed for the temple of your God that you may have occasion to supply, you may provide from the royal treasury. Whatever the God of heaven has prescribed, let it be done with diligence for the temple of the God of heaven. Why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and of his sons? Whoever does not obey the law of your God and the law of the king must surely be punished by death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.
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27
"Ezra & Darius"
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"Ezra Receives Letter from Artaxerxes"
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GUSTAVE DORÉ
"Artaxerxes Granting Liberty to the Jews"
I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. So we arrived in Jerusalem.
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JAN LUYKEN
"Caravan of Israelites Moves under Ezra"
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"The Jews Return to Jerusalem in the Time of Cyrus"
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JULIUS SCHNORR VON CAROLSFELD
"Return from Babylon"
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After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices. They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.” When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled. And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice. Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self- abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God and prayed.
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GUSTAV DORÉ
"Ezra Kneels in Prayer"
New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added
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