Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

Ezra 5
¹³ However, King Cyrus of Babylon, during the first year of his reign, issued a decree that the Temple of God should be rebuilt.
¹⁴ King Cyrus returned the gold and silver cups that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple of God in Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of Babylon. These cups were taken from that temple and presented to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom King Cyrus appointed as governor of Judah.
¹⁵ The king instructed him to return the cups to their place in Jerusalem and to rebuild the Temple of God there on its original site.
¹⁶ So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. The people have been working on it ever since, though it is not yet completed.’
¹⁷ “Therefore, if it pleases the king, we request that a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to discover whether King Cyrus ever issued a decree to rebuild God’s Temple in Jerusalem. And then let the king send us his decision in this matter.”
Ezra 6
¹ So King Darius issued orders that a search be made in the Babylonian archives, which were stored in the treasury.
² But it was at the fortress at Ecbatana in the province of Media that a scroll was found. This is what it said: “Memorandum:
³ “In the first year of King Cyrus’s reign, a decree was sent out concerning the Temple of God at Jerusalem. “Let the Temple be rebuilt on the site where Jews used to offer their sacrifices, using the original foundations. Its height will be ninety feet, and its width will be ninety feet.
⁴ Every three layers of specially prepared stones will be topped by a layer of timber. All expenses will be paid by the royal treasury.
⁵ Furthermore, the gold and silver cups, which were taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple of God in Jerusalem, must be returned to Jerusalem and put back where they belong. Let them be taken back to the Temple of God.”
⁶ So King Darius sent this message: “Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues and other officials west of the Euphrates River—stay away from there!