King James Version · The Persian return
1 Esdras 8
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1And after these things, when the king of the reigned came the son of , the son of Ezerias, the son of Helchiah, the son of Salum, 2The son of Sadduc, the son of Achitob, the son of Amarias, the son of Ezias, the son of , the son of , the son of Savias, the son of Boccas, the son of Abisum, the son of , the son of Eleazar, the son of the . 3This went up from , as a , being very ready in of , that was given by the of Israel. 4And the king did him : for he found in his sight in all his requests. 5There went up with him also certain of the , of the priest of the , of the singers, porters, and ministers of , unto , 6In the seventh year of the reign of , in the fifth month, this was the king’s seventh year; for they went from in the first day of the first month, and came to , according to the prosperous journey which gave them. 7For had very great skill, so that he omitted nothing of and of , but taught all Israel the ordinances and judgments. 8Now the copy of the commission, which was written from the king, and came to the priest and reader of of , is this that followeth; 9King unto the priest and reader of of sendeth greeting: 10Having determined to deal graciously, I have given order, that such of the nation of the , and of the priests and being within our realm, as are willing and desirous should go with thee unto . 11As many therefore as have a thereunto, let them depart with thee, as it hath seemed good both to me and my seven friends the counsellors; 12That they may look unto the affairs of and , agreeably to that which is in of ; 13And carry the gifts unto of Israel to , which I and my friends have , and all the gold and silver that in the country of can be found, to in , 14With that also which is given of the people for of their at : and that silver and gold may be collected for bullocks, rams, and lambs, and things thereunto appertaining; 15To the end that they may offer unto upon the of their , which is in . 16And whatsoever thou and thy brethren will do with the silver and gold, that do, according to the will of thy . 17And the vessels of , which are given thee for the use of of thy , which is in , thou shalt set before thy in . 18And whatsoever thing else thou shalt remember for the use of of thy , thou shalt give it out of the king’s . 19And I king have also commanded the keepers of the in and , that whatsoever the priest and the reader of of shall send for, they should give it him with speed, 20To the sum of an hundred of silver, likewise also of wheat even to an hundred cors, and an hundred pieces of , and other things in abundance. 21Let all things be performed after of diligently unto , that come not upon of the king and his sons. 22I command you also, that ye require no tax, nor any other imposition, of any of the priests, or , or singers, or porters, or ministers of , or of any that have doings in this temple, and that no man have to impose any thing upon them. 23And thou, , according to the of ordain judges and justices, that they may judge in all and all those that know of thy ; and those that know it not thou shalt teach. 24And whosoever shall transgress of thy , and of the king, shall be punished diligently, whether it be by , or other punishment, by penalty of money, or by imprisonment. 25Then said the , be the only of my fathers, who hath put these things into of the king, to his house that is in : 26And hath honoured me in the sight of the king, and his counsellors, and all his friends and nobles. 27Therefore was I encouraged by the help of my , and gathered together men of Israel to go up with me. 28And these are the chief according to their families and several dignities, that went up with me from in the reign of king : 29Of the sons of , Gerson: of the sons of , Gamael: of the sons of , Lettus the son of Sechenias: 30Of the sons of Pharez, ; and with him were counted an hundred and fifty men: 31Of the sons of , Eliaonias, the son of , and with him two hundred men: 32Of the sons of Zathoe, Sechenias the son of Jezelus, and with him three hundred men: of the sons of , Obeth the son of Jonathan, and with him two hundred and fifty men: 33Of the sons of , son of Gotholias, and with him seventy men: 34Of the sons of Saphatias, son of Michael, and with him threescore and ten men: 35Of the sons of , Abadias son of Jezelus, and with him two hundred and twelve men: 36Of the sons of Banid, Assalimoth son of Josaphias, and with him an hundred and threescore men: 37Of the sons of Babi, son of , and with him twenty and eight men: 38Of the sons of Astath, Johannes son of Acatan, and with him an hundred and ten men: 39Of the sons of the last, and these are the names of them, Eliphalet, Jewel, and , and with them seventy men: 40Of the sons of Bago, Uthi the son of Istalcurus, and with him seventy men. 41And these I gathered together to the river called Theras, where we pitched our tents three days: and then I surveyed them. 42But when I had found there none of the priests and , 43Then sent I unto Eleazar, and Iduel, and Masman, 44And Alnathan, and Mamaias, and Joribas, and , Eunatan, , and Mosollamon, principal men and learned. 45And I bade them that they should go unto Saddeus the captain, who was in the place of the : 46And commanded them that they should speak unto Daddeus, and to his brethren, and to the treasurers in that place, to send us such men as might execute the priests’ office in the . 47And by the mighty hand of our they brought unto us skilful men of the sons of Moli the son of Levi, the son of Israel, Asebebia, and his sons, and his brethren, who were eighteen. 48And Asebia, and Annus, and Osaias his brother, of the sons of Channuneus, and their sons, were twenty men. 49And of the servants of whom had ordained, and the principal men for the of the to wit, the servants of two hundred and twenty, the catalogue of whose names were shewed. 50And there I a unto the young men before our , to of him a prosperous journey both for us and them that were with us, for our children, and for the cattle: 51For I was to ask the king footmen, and horsemen, and conduct for safeguard against our . 52For we had said unto the king, that the of our should be with them that seek him, to support them in all ways. 53And again we besought our as touching these things, and found him favourable unto us. 54Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Esebrias, and Assanias, and ten men of their brethren with them: 55And I weighed them the gold, and the silver, and the vessels of the house of our , which the king, and his council, and the princes, and all Israel, had given. 56And when I had weighed it, I unto them six hundred and fifty of silver, and silver vessels of an hundred , and an hundred of gold, 57And twenty golden vessels, and twelve vessels of brass, even of fine brass, glittering like gold. 58And I said unto them, Both ye are unto , and the vessels are , and the gold and the silver is a unto , of our fathers. 59Watch ye, and keep them till ye them to the chief of the priests and , and to the principal men of the families of Israel, in , into the chambers of the house of our . 60So the priests and the , who had received the silver and the gold and the vessels, brought them unto , into of . 61And from the river Theras we departed the twelfth day of the first month, and came to by the mighty hand of our , which was with us: and of our journey us from every enemy, and so we came to . 62And when we had been there three days, the gold and silver that was weighed was in the house of our on the fourth day unto Marmoth the priest the son of Iri. 63And with him was Eleazar the son of , and with them were Josabad the son of Jesu and Moeth the son of Sabban, : all was them by number and weight. 64And all the weight of them was written up the same hour. 65Moreover they that were come out of offered unto of Israel, even twelve bullocks for all Israel, fourscore and sixteen rams, 66Threescore and twelve lambs, goats for a peace offering, twelve; all of them a to . 67And they the king’s unto the king’s stewards’ and to the governors of and ; and they honoured the people and of . 68Now when these things were done, the came unto me, and said, 69The nation of Israel, the princes, the priests and , have not from them the strange people of the land, nor the pollutions of the to wit, of , , Pheresites, , and the , , and . 70For both they and their sons have married with their daughters, and the is mixed with the strange people of the land; and of this matter the and the great men have been partakers of this . 71And as soon as I had heard these things, I rent my clothes, and the garment, and pulled off the hair from off my head and beard, and sat me down sad and very heavy. 72So all they that were then moved at the word of of Israel assembled unto me, whilst I mourned for the : but I sat still full of heaviness . 73Then rising up from the with my clothes and the garment rent, and bowing my knees, and stretching forth my hands unto , 74I said, O , I am confounded and before thy ; 75For our are multiplied above our heads, and our ignorances have reached up unto . 76For ever since the time of our fathers we have been and are in great , even unto this day. 77And for our and our fathers’ we with our brethren and our kings and our priests were given up unto the kings of the earth, to , and to , and for a prey with , unto this day. 78And now in some measure hath mercy been shewed unto us from thee, O , that there should be left us a root and a name in the place of thy sanctuary; 79And to discover unto us a in the our , and to give us food in the time of our servitude. 80Yea, when we were in bondage, we were not forsaken of our ; but he made us before the kings of , so that they gave us food; 81Yea, and honoured of our , and up the desolate , that they have given us a sure abiding in and . 82And now, O , what shall we say, having these things? for we have transgressed thy , which thou gavest by the hand of thy servants , saying, 83That the land, which ye enter into to possess as an heritage, is a land polluted with the pollutions of the strangers of the land, and they have filled it with their uncleanness. 84Therefore now shall ye not join your daughters unto their sons, neither shall ye take their daughters unto your sons. 85Moreover ye shall never seek to have peace with them, that ye may be strong, and eat the good things of the land, and that ye may leave the of the land unto your children for evermore. 86And all that is befallen is done unto us for our works and great ; for thou, O , didst make our , 87And didst give unto us such a root: but we have turned back again to transgress thy law, and to mingle ourselves with the uncleanness of the nations of the land. 88Mightest not thou be angry with us to destroy us, till thou hadst left us neither root, , nor name? 89O of Israel, thou art true: for we are left a root this day. 90Behold, now are we before thee in our , for we cannot stand any longer by reason of these things before thee. 91And as in his made his , weeping, and lying flat upon the ground before , there gathered unto him from a very great multitude of men and women and children: for there was great weeping among . 92Then the son of Jeelus, one of the , called out, and said, O , we have against , we have married strange women of the nations of the land, and now is all Israel aloft. 93Let us make an to , that we will all our wives, which we have taken of the heathen, with their children, 94Like as thou hast decreed, and as many as do of . 95Arise and put in execution: for to thee doth this matter appertain, and we will be with thee: do valiantly. 96So arose, and took an of the chief of the priests and of all Israel to do after these things; and so they sware.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.