1 Esdras 2

1In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, for the fulfillment of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,

2the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians, and he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also in writing, saying,

3Thus says Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord of Israel, the Most High Lord, has appointed me king of the world,

4and he has appointed me to build a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judea.

5Therefore, if any of you is from his people, may his Lord be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judea and build the house of the Lord of Israel—he is the Lord who dwells in Jerusalem.

6Therefore, as many as live in the various places, let the men in his place help him with gold and silver, with gifts, with horses and livestock, along with the other things added as vowed offerings for the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.

7Then the heads of the ancestral houses of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, and everyone whose spirit the Lord had stirred up, arose to go up to build the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.

8And those around them helped in every way, with silver and gold, with horses, with livestock, and with very many freewill offerings, from all whose mind had been stirred.

9And King Cyrus brought out the holy vessels of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and deposited in the house of his god.

10Then Cyrus king of the Persians brought them out and handed them over to Mithridates, his treasurer.

11And through him they were handed over to Sanamassar, governor of Judea.

12And this was their number: a thousand gold libation bowls, a thousand silver libation bowls, twenty-nine silver censers, thirty gold bowls, two hundred and ten silver bowls, and a thousand other vessels.

13And all the vessels were brought up, the gold and silver ones, five thousand four hundred and sixty-nine in all.

14and it was brought up by Sheshbazzar together with those from the captivity, from Babylon to Jerusalem.

15In the time of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, Belemus and Mithradates and Tabelius and Rathymus and Beeltethmus and Samellius the scribe, and the rest who were associated with them, living in Samaria and the other places, wrote the following letter against the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem:

16To King Artaxerxes our lord: your servants, Rathymus, the one over records, and Samellius the scribe, and the rest of their council, and those in Coele-Syria and Phoenicia.

17And now let it be known to my lord the king that the Judeans who came up from you to us have come to Jerusalem and are living in that rebellious and wicked city; they are repairing its marketplaces and walls, and are laying the foundation of a temple.

18Therefore, if this city is rebuilt and the walls are completed, they will certainly not endure to pay tribute, but will even oppose kings.

19And you will find in the records what has been written about these things, and you will know that that city was rebellious, troubling kings and cities, and that the Jews in it were rebels and had established blockades from of old; for this reason that city was laid waste.

20Now therefore we make known to you, lord king, that if this city is built and its walls are raised up, there will no longer be for you passage into Coele-Syria and Phoenicia.

21Then the king wrote back to Rathymus, the recorder of the complaints, and to Beeltethmus, and to Samellius the scribe, and to the rest of their associates who lived in Samaria and Syria and Phoenicia, as follows:

22I read the letter that you sent to me. Therefore I gave orders to investigate, and it was found that that city has from ancient times set itself in opposition to kings,

23and its people were carrying out rebellions and wars within it, and strong and harsh kings were in Jerusalem, ruling and exacting tribute from Coele-Syria and Phoenicia.

24So now I have ordered that those men be stopped from building the city, and that care be taken that nothing further be done beyond this, and that the evil matter may not advance any more to the harm of kings.

25Then, when what had been written by King Artaxerxes was read, Rathymus and Samellius the scribe, and those aligned with them, hurried up to Jerusalem with horsemen and a battle formation of a crowd.

26They began to hinder those who were building, and the building of the temple in Jerusalem was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of the Persians.