Ezra 1

Jews return home after 50 years in exile

Cyrus greenlights Jews to go to Jerusalem

1In Cyrus’ first year as king of Persia, [1] the LORD convinced him to make an announcement. Cyrus’ decree, which he put in writing, fulfilled a prediction the prophet Jeremiah made a generation earlier. [2]

2“These words come directly from King Cyrus of Persia:
The LORD God of heaven put me in charge of everything here on earth. He told me to build in Jerusalem a place of worship devoted to him. That’s in the land of Judah. 3So, I’m announcing that if you are one of his people, you’re free to go to Jerusalem in Judah and rebuild the LORD’s temple. And may the God of Israel go with you to Jerusalem, where he lives.

Donations requested for trip expenses

4Jews who stay behind should donate whatever they can to help those who are leaving. Give them silver and gold for supplies and livestock to take with them. And give them generous offerings for God’s Jerusalem temple.” [3]

5God gave people a desire to go. Family leaders from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, [4] along with Levite priests and their worship associates, got ready to go and rebuild the LORD’s temple in Jerusalem. 6Their neighbors pitched in. They donated silver objects, gold, livestock, and expensive gifts. They gave it freely and generously.

Cyrus gives back stolen Temple objects

7King Cyrus gave the Jews back the Jerusalem temple’s sacred objects. Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar stole them from the temple and put them in the temple of his god as trophies.

8Cyrus ordered his treasurer, Mithredath, to itemize the list of temple objects. He was to give that list to Sheshbazzar of Judah, leader of the Jews headed to Jerusalem. 9Inventory of sacred objects included:
30 gold dishes
1,000 silver dishes
29 pans [5]
1030 gold bowls
410 silver bowls
1,000 other objects.

11In all, there were 5,400 gold and silver vessels from the former temple. Sheshbazzar took them all back to Jerusalem with the exiles who left the Babylonian lands behind.

Footnotes

Intro Notes to Ezra

11:1

The writer may be referring to October 539, when Cyrus first entered Babylon’s capital as conqueror of the previous world superpower, the Babylonian Empire. Or the writer may have had in mind the following year, 538 BC, when Cyrus was formally recognized as king of a Persian Empire that included the former Babylonian Empire. But by that time, Cyrus had already ruled a smaller version of Persia for a decade or more.

21:1

Jeremiah was in Jerusalem when Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar captured the city in 586 BC and leveled it along with the Jewish Temple. There doesn’t seem to be anything in the surviving prophecies of Jeremiah that predict Cyrus would free the people Babylon had held as captives. Some scholars suggest Jeremiah 25:11-12 and 29:10. But those talk about a different topic, the fall of Babylon. Isaiah, however, does have some passages that might track with what the writer is describing: Isaiah 41:2, 25, 28; 45:1, 13. Especially 45:13.

31:4

A nine-inch-long clay cylinder from Cyrus’ time, about 538 BC, confirms that he freed Babylonian captives after he took control of the former Babylonian Empire. He didn’t simply free the Jewish captives. He freed them all. The cylinder reports that he told them all to go home, rebuild their worship centers, and to say a prayer for him every day.

41:5

The tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with Levite priests and associates who operated the Jerusalem Temple, were the main Jewish groups the Babylonian invaders had exiled in 586 BC. These tribes made up the southern Jewish nation of Judah. The northern Jewish nation of Israel, with the other tribes, were exiled long before that, in 722 BC, by Assyrian invaders. They became known as the Lost Tribes of Israel. They never seemed to come back in large groups. They apparently became assimilated into other cultures. Many southern Jews, however, returned home after one generation in exile. They had still maintained a sense of distinction as God’s people, though living in shameful punishment.

51:9

“Pans” is a guess. The meaning of the Hebrew word mahlap is uncertain. That’s why Bible versions offer a variety of educated guesses.