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Then the heads of ancestral houses[a] of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites—everyone, that is, whose spirit had been stirred up by God—prepared to go up to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. (A)All their neighbors gave them help in every way, with silver, gold, goods, livestock, and many precious gifts, besides all their voluntary offerings. (B)King Cyrus, too, had the vessels of the house of the Lord brought forth that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his god.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:5 Heads of ancestral houses: the ancestral house was the basic organizational unit of the postexilic community, consisting of an extended kinship group claiming descent from a common ancestor. The patriarchs of these units played an important role in civic government.

Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin,(A) and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved(B)—prepared to go up and build the house(C) of the Lord in Jerusalem. All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold,(D) with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

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.[a](E)

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 1:7 Or gods