The Proclamation of Cyrus

11 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 king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: 2 "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. 3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. 4 And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' "

The Return of the Exiles to Jerusalem

5 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. 6 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. 7 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.[1] 8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 This was the inventory: 10 gold bowls, 30 matching silver bowls, 410 other articles, 1,000 11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

The List of Returning Exiles

21 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 their own town, 2 in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah): The list of the men of the people of Israel: 3 the descendants of Parosh , 2,172 4 of Shephatiah, 372 5 of Arah, 775 6 of Pahath-Moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab), 2,812 7 of Elam, 1,254 8 of Zattu, 945 9 of Zaccai, 760 10 of Bani, 642 11 of Bebai, 623 12 of Azgad, 1,222 13 of Adonikam , 666 14 of Bigvai, 2,056 15 of Adin, 454 16 of Ater (through Hezekiah), 98 17 of Bezai, 323 18 of Jorah, 112 19 of Hashum, 223 20 of Gibbar, 95 21 the men of Bethlehem , 123 22 of Netophah, 56 23 of Anathoth, 128 24 of Azmaveth, 42 25 of Kiriath Jearim, Kephirah and Beeroth, 743 26 of Ramah and Geba, 621 27 of Micmash, 122 28 of Bethel and Ai , 223 29 of Nebo, 52 30 of Magbish, 156 31 of the other Elam, 1,254 32 of Harim, 320 33 of Lod, Hadid and Ono, 725 34 of Jericho , 345 35 of Senaah, 3,630

36 The priests: 37 of Immer , 1,052 38 of Pashhur , 1,247 39 of Harim , 1,017 40 The Levites: 41 The musicians: 42 The gatekeepers of the temple: 43 The temple servants: 44 Keros, Siaha, Padon, 45 Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub, 46 Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan, 47 Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah, 48 Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam, 49 Uzza, Paseah, Besai, 50 Asnah, Meunim, Nephusim, 51 Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur, 52 Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha, 53 Barkos, Sisera, Temah, 54 Neziah and Hatipha 55 The descendants of the servants of Solomon: 56 Jaala, Darkon, Giddel, 57 Shephatiah, Hattil, 58 The temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon, 392 59 The following came up from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer, but they could not show that their families were descended from Israel: 60 The descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda 652 61 And from among the priests: The descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai (a man who had married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name). 62 These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 63 The governor ordered them not to eat any of the most sacred food until there was a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim.

64 The whole company numbered 42,360, 65 besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 200 male and female singers. 66 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 67 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys. 68 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. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 darics[2] of gold, 5,000 minas[3] of silver and 100 priestly garments. 70 The priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.