The Decree of Cyrus

1 In^(A) the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah,^(B) the Lord roused the spirit^(C) of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:

² This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.^{(D) 3} Any of his people among you, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel,^(E) the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴ Let every survivor,^(F) wherever he resides, 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.”

⁹ So we questioned the elders and asked, “Who gave you the order to rebuild this temple and finish this structure?”

¹³ However, in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, he issued a decree to rebuild the house of God.^(A)

³ In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree^(A) concerning the house of God in Jerusalem:

Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its original foundations be retained.^[a] Its height is to be ninety feet^[b] and its width ninety feet,^(B)