Study Desk

Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests, and the Levites, and all they who hadcome out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began. And they made to stand the Levites from a son of twenty years and over, to oversee the work of the house of Jehovah.

Then Jeshua stood up together with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, to oversee the workmen in the house of God, the sons of Henadad with their sons, and their brothers the Levites.

And when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the sons of the exile built the temple to Jehovah the God of Israel,

then they came to Zerubbabel and to the head of the fathers and said to them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God, as you. And we have not sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.

But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers of Israel said to them, It is not for you and for us to build a house to our God. But we ourselves will together build toJehovah the God of Israel, as King Cyrus theking of Persia has commanded us.

Then the work of the house of God in Jerusalem stopped. So it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

And the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God in Jerusalem. And with them were the prophets of God helping them.

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they could not cause them to stop until the matter came to Darius. And then they sent back a letter concerning this.

Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, and it is being built with rolling stones, and timber is being laid in the walls, and thatwork is being done perfectly, and is prosperingin their hands.

And they returned the answer to us this way, saying, We are servants of the God of Heaven and earth. And we are rebuilding the house that was built many years before this, and the great king of Israel built it and finished it.

But because our fathers had provoked to wrath the God of Heaven, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, and he tore down this house, and he exiled its people to Babylon.

But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, King Cyrus placed an order to build this house of God.

And also the vessels of gold and silver from the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were deliveredto one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.

And he said to him, Take these vessels and go. Deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built on its place.

Then that Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem. And from then even until now it has been building, but is not finished.

Now, therefore, if it is good to the king, let there be a search made in the king's treasure house which is there at Babylon, whether it is so that a decree was given from Cyrus the king tobuild this house of God at Jerusalem. Andlet the will of the king concerning this be sent to us.

In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king placed a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: let the house be built, the place where they offered sacrifices and let the foundations of it be strongly laid. Its height shallbe sixty cubits; its breadth sixty cubits;

And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, that Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be given back and go to the temple in Jerusalem, to their place. And put them in the house of God.

Let the work of this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews, and the elders of the Jews, build this house of God in its place.