The First Book of Esdras
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Anonymous
1:41 Nabuchodonosor also took of the holy vessels of the Lord, and carried them away, and set them in his own temple at Babylon.
1:42 But those things that are recorded of him, and of his uncleaness and impiety, are written in the chronicles of the kings.
1:43 And Joacim his son reigned in his stead: he was made king being eighteen years old;
1:44 And reigned but three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and did evil before the Lord.
1:45 So after a year Nabuchodonosor sent and caused him to be brought into Babylon with the holy vessels of the Lord;
1:46 And made Zedechias king of Judea and Jerusalem, when he was one and twenty years old; and he reigned eleven years:
1:47 And he did evil also in the sight of the Lord, and cared not for the words that were spoken unto him by the prophet Jeremy from the mouth of the Lord.
1:48 And after that king Nabuchodonosor had made him to swear by the name of the Lord, he forswore himself, and rebelled; and hardening his neck, his heart, he transgressed the laws of the Lord God of Israel.
1:49 The governors also of the people and of the priests did many things against the laws, and passed all the pollutions of all nations, and defiled the temple of the Lord, which was sanctified in Jerusalem.
1:50 Nevertheless the God of their fathers sent by his messenger to call them back, because he spared them and his tabernacle also.
1:51 But they had his messengers in derision; and, look, when the Lord spake unto them, they made a sport of his prophets:
1:52 So far forth, that he, being wroth with his people for their great ungodliness, commanded the kings of the Chaldees to come up against them;
1:53 Who slew their young men with the sword, yea, even within the compass of their holy temple, and spared neither young man nor maid, old man nor child, among them; for he delivered all into their hands.
1:54 And they took all the holy vessels of the Lord, both great and small, with the vessels of the ark of God, and the king’s treasures, and carried them away into Babylon.
1:55 As for the house of the Lord, they burnt it, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem, and set fire upon her towers:
1:56 And as for her glorious things, they never ceased till they had consumed and brought them all to nought: and the people that were not slain with the sword he carried unto Babylon:
1:57 Who became servants to him and his children, till the Persians reigned, to fulfil the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremy:
1:58 Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths, the whole time of her desolation shall she rest, until the full term of seventy years.
2:1 In the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, that the word of the Lord might be accomplished, that he had promised by the mouth of Jeremy;
2:2 The Lord raised up the spirit of Cyrus the king of the Persians, and he made proclamation through all his kingdom, and also by writing,
2:3 Saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of the Persians; The Lord of Israel, the most high Lord, hath made me king of the whole world,
2:4 And commanded me to build him an house at Jerusalem in Jewry.
2:5 If therefore there be any of you that are of his people, let the Lord, even his Lord, be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem that is in Judea, and build the house of the Lord of Israel: for he is the Lord that dwelleth in Jerusalem.
2:6 Whosoever then dwell in the places about, let them help him, those, I say, that are his neighbours, with gold, and with silver,
2:7 With gifts, with horses, and with cattle, and other things, which have been set forth by vow, for the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem.
2:8 Then the chief of the families of Judea and of the tribe of Benjamin stood up; the priests also, and the Levites, and all they whose mind the Lord had moved to go up, and to build an house for the Lord at Jerusalem,
2:9 And they that dwelt round about them, and helped them in all things with silver and gold, with horses and cattle, and with very many free gifts of a great number whose minds were stirred up thereto.
2:10 King Cyrus also brought forth the holy vessels, which Nabuchodonosor had carried away from Jerusalem, and had set up in his temple of idols.
2:11 Now when Cyrus king of the Persians had brought them forth, he delivered them to Mithridates his treasurer:
2:12 And by him they were delivered to Sanabassar the governor of Judea.
2:13 And this was the number of them; A thousand golden cups, and a thousand of silver, censers of silver twenty nine, vials of gold thirty, and of silver two thousand four hundred and ten, and a thousand other vessels.
2:14 So all the vessels of gold and of silver, which were carried away, were five thousand four hundred threescore and nine.
2:15 These were brought back by Sanabassar, together with them of the captivity, from Babylon to Jerusalem.
2:16 But in the time of Artexerxes king of the Persians Belemus, and Mithridates, and Tabellius, and Rathumus, and Beeltethmus, and Semellius the secretary, with others that were in commission with them, dwelling in Samaria and other places, wrote unto him against them that dwelt in Judea and Jerusalem these letters following;
2:17 To king Artexerxes our lord, Thy servants, Rathumus the storywriter, and Semellius the scribe, and the rest of their council, and the judges that are in Celosyria and Phenice.
2:18 Be it now known to the lord king, that the Jews that are up from you to us, being come into Jerusalem, that rebellious and wicked city, do build the marketplaces, and repair the walls of it and do lay the foundation of the temple.
2:19 Now if this city and the walls thereof be made up again, they will not only refuse to give tribute, but also rebel against kings.
2:20 And forasmuch as the things pertaining to the temple are now in hand, we think it meet not to neglect such a matter,
2:21 But to speak unto our lord the king, to the intent that, if it be thy pleasure it may be sought out in the books of thy fathers:
2:22 And thou shalt find in the chronicles what is written concerning these things, and shalt understand that that city was rebellious, troubling both kings and cities: