Ezra 5:13-6:5

New International Version

¹³“However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree^(A) to rebuild this house of God. ¹⁴He even removed from the temple^[a] of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple^[b] in Babylon.^(B) Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar,^(C) whom he had appointed governor, ¹⁵and he told him, ‘Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.’

¹⁶“So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God^(D) in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.”

¹⁷Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives^(E) of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

The Decree of Darius

6 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives^(F) stored in the treasury at Babylon. ²A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:

Memorandum:

³In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:

Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid.^(G) It is to be sixty cubits^[c] high and sixty cubits wide, ⁴with three courses^(H) of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury.^(I) ⁵Also, the gold^(J) and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.^(K)