Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return 1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of theLordspoken by Jeremiah, theLordmoved the heart of…

The List of the Exiles Who Returned 1 Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon…

Rebuilding the Altar 1 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. 2 Then Joshua son of…

Opposition to the Rebuilding 1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for theLord, the God of Israel, 2 they came to…

Tattenai’s Letter to Darius 1 Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the…

The Decree of Darius 1 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found in the…

Ezra Comes to Jerusalem 1 After these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, 2 the…

List of the Family Heads Returning With Ezra 1 These are the family heads and those registered with them who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of…

Ezra’s Prayer About Intermarriage 1 After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not…

The People’s Confession of Sin 1 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered…