Study Desk

And let every survivor, wherever he lives, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.'"

So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites-everyone whose spirit God had stirred-prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings to rebuild the house of God on its original site.

Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests, along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates, began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God.

In the second month of the second year after they had arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their associates including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years of age or older to supervise the construction of the house of the LORD.

Jeshua and his sons and brothers joined together with Kadmiel and his sons, the descendants of Yehudah, and with the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers-all Levites-to supervise those working on the house of God.

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel,

they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families, saying, "Let us build with you because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the time of King Esar-haddon of Assyria, who brought us here."

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of the families of Israel replied, "You have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone must build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us."

Thus the construction of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia.

Later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah 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 son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak rose up and began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so that they were not stopped until a report was sent to Darius and written instructions about this matter were returned.

Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. The people are rebuilding it with large stones, and placing timbers in the walls. This work is being carried out diligently and is prospering in their hands.

And this is the answer they returned: "We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

But since our fathers angered the God of heaven, He handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean who destroyed this temple and carried away the people to Babylon.

However, in his first year, Cyrus king of Babylon issued a decree to rebuild this house of God.

He also removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles belonging to the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken and carried there from the temple in Jerusalem. King Cyrus gave these articles to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor

and instructed, 'Take these articles, put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site.'

So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been under construction, but is not yet completed."