The chat will start when you send the first message.
1In the first year that Cyrus of Persia was emperor, the Lord made come true what he had said through the prophet Jeremiah.[#2.1: King Cyrus of Persia occupied the city of Babylon in 539 b.c. and began to reign as the emperor of Babylonia.]
2He prompted Cyrus to issue the following command and send it out in writing to be read aloud everywhere in his empire:
8Then the heads of the clans of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, and everyone else whose heart the Lord had moved, got ready to go and rebuild the Lord's Temple in Jerusalem.
9Their neighbors helped them with everything, giving them silver, gold, horses, and pack animals. Many of their neighbors were also led to give a large number of other things, in fulfillment of vows.
10Emperor Cyrus gave them back the sacred utensils that King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had put in the temple of his idols.
11He brought them out and handed them over to Mithredath, chief of the royal treasury,
12who delivered them to Sheshbazzar, the governor of Judah.
13Here is the inventory of the utensils:
14In all there were 5,469 gold and silver bowls and other utensils,
15and Sheshbazzar took these with him when he and the other exiles went from Babylon to Jerusalem.
16In the reign of Emperor Artaxerxes of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, Rehum, Beltethmus, Shimshai the secretary of the province, and their associates who lived in Samaria and elsewhere wrote the following letter in protest against the Jews who were living in Judah and Jerusalem:
25The emperor sent the following answer to the official correspondent Rehum, Beltethmus, the secretary Shimshai, and their associates who lived in Samaria, Syria, and Phoenicia:
30As soon as this letter from Emperor Artaxerxes was read, Rehum, Shimshai the secretary, and their associates hurried to Jerusalem with a force of cavalry and a large number of armed troops and began interfering with the rebuilding of the Temple. The work had to stop, and no more was done until the second year of the reign of Emperor Darius of Persia.