Isaiah 60:1
ARISE, shine; for thy light is come,and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
Containing The Old And New Testaments
in the
King James Version
Words of Christ in Red
We are Diligently Working to Format the Text According to this Translation But Have Not Finished
Please Consider This When Reading
The Book of
Ezra
Ezra continues the Old Testament narrative of Second Chronicles by showing how God fulfills His promise to return his people to the Land of Promise after seventy years of exile. Israel's "second exodus," this one from Babylon, is less impressive than the return from Egypt because only a remnant chooses to leave Babylon.
Ezra relates the story of two returns from Babylon — the first led by Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple (1-6), and the second under the leadership of Ezra to rebuild the spiritual condition of the people (7-10). Sandwiched between these two accounts is a gap of nearly six decades, during which Esther lives and rules as queen of Persia.
Ezra is the Aramaic form of the Hebrew word ezer, "help," and perhaps means "Yahweh helps." Ezra and Nehemiah were originally bound together as one book because Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah were viewed as one continuous history. The Septuagint, a Greek-language version of the Old Testament translated in the third century b.c., calls Ezra-Nehemiah, Esdras Deuteron, "Second Esdras." First Esdras is the name of the apocryphal book of Esdras. The Latin title is Liber Primas Esdrae, "First Book of Ezra." In the Latin Bible, Ezra is called First Ezra and Nehemiah is called Second Ezra.
Ezra relates the story of two returns from Babylon — the first led by Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple (1-6), and the second under the leadership of Ezra to rebuild the spiritual condition of the people (7-10). Sandwiched between these two accounts is a gap of nearly six decades, during which Esther lives and rules as queen of Persia.
Ezra is the Aramaic form of the Hebrew word ezer, "help," and perhaps means "Yahweh helps." Ezra and Nehemiah were originally bound together as one book because Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah were viewed as one continuous history. The Septuagint, a Greek-language version of the Old Testament translated in the third century b.c., calls Ezra-Nehemiah, Esdras Deuteron, "Second Esdras." First Esdras is the name of the apocryphal book of Esdras. The Latin title is Liber Primas Esdrae, "First Book of Ezra." In the Latin Bible, Ezra is called First Ezra and Nehemiah is called Second Ezra.
Chapter 1
- Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
- Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
- Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
- And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
- Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.
- And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.
- Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;
- Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
- And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,
- Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.
- All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.