1 Then the second, who had spoken of the strength of the king, began to speak:
2 "Gentlemen, are not men strongest, who rule over land and sea and all that is in them?
3 But the king is stronger; he is their lord and master, and whatever he says to them they obey.
4 If he tells them to make war on one another, they do it; and if he sends them out against the enemy, they go, and conquer mountains, walls, and towers.
5 They kill and are killed, and do not disobey the king's command; if they win the victory, they bring everything to the king—whatever spoil they take and everything else.
6 Likewise those who do not serve in the army or make war but till the soil; whenever they sow and reap, they bring some to the king; and they compel one another to pay taxes to the king.
7 And yet he is only one man! If he tells them to kill, they kill; if he tells them to release, they release;
8 if he tells them to attack, they attack; if he tells them to lay waste, they lay waste; if he tells them to build, they build;
9 if he tells them to cut down, they cut down; if he tells them to plant, they plant.
10 All his people and his armies obey him. Furthermore, he reclines, he eats and drinks and sleeps,
11 but they keep watch around him, and no one may go away to attend to his own affairs, nor do they disobey him.
12 Gentlemen, why is not the king the strongest, since he is to be obeyed in this fashion?" And he stopped speaking.
13 Then the third, who had spoken of women and truth (and this was Zerubbabel), began to speak:
14 "Gentlemen, is not the king great, and are not men many, and is not wine strong? Who is it, then, that rules them, or has the mastery over them? Is it not women?
15 Women gave birth to the king and to every people that rules over sea and land.
16 From women they came; and women brought up the very men who plant the vineyards from which comes wine.
17 Women make men's clothes; they bring men glory; men cannot exist without women.
18 If men gather gold and silver or any other beautiful thing, and then see a woman lovely in appearance and beauty,
19 they let all those things go, and gape at her, and with open mouths stare at her, and all prefer her to gold or silver or any other beautiful thing.
20 A man leaves his own father, who brought him up, and his own country, and clings to his wife.
21 With his wife he ends his days, with no thought of his father or his mother or his country.
22 Therefore you must realize that women rule over you! "Do you not labor and toil, and bring everything and give it to women?
23 A man takes his sword, and goes out to travel and rob and steal and to sail the sea and rivers;
24 he faces lions, and he walks in darkness, and when he steals and robs and plunders, he brings it back to the woman he loves.
25 A man loves his wife more than his father or his mother.
26 Many men have lost their minds because of women, and have become slaves because of them.
27 Many have perished, or stumbled, or sinned because of women.
28 And now do you not believe me? "Is not the king great in his power? Do not all lands fear to touch him?
29 Yet I have seen him with Apame, the king's concubine, the daughter of the illustrious Bartacus; she would sit at the king's right hand
30 and take the crown from the king's head and put it on her own, and slap the king with her left hand.
31 At this the king would gaze at her with mouth agape. If she smiles at him, he laughs; if she loses her temper with him, he flatters her, so that she may be reconciled to him.
32 Gentlemen, why are not women strong, since they do such things?"
33 Then the king and the nobles looked at one another; and he began to speak about truth:
34 "Gentlemen, are not women strong? The earth is vast, and heaven is high, and the sun is swift in its course, for it makes the circuit of the heavens and returns to its place in one day.
35 Is not the one who does these things great? But truth is great, and stronger than all things.
36 The whole earth calls upon truth, and heaven blesses it. All God's works quake and tremble, and with him there is nothing unrighteous.
37 Wine is unrighteous, the king is unrighteous, women are unrighteous, all human beings are unrighteous, all their works are unrighteous, and all such things. There is no truth in them and in their unrighteousness they will perish.
38 But truth endures and is strong forever, and lives and prevails forever and ever.
39 With it there is no partiality or preference, but it does what is righteous instead of anything that is unrighteous or wicked. Everyone approves its deeds,
40 and there is nothing unrighteous in its judgment. To it belongs the strength and the kingship and the power and the majesty of all the ages. Blessed be the God of truth!"
41 When he stopped speaking, all the people shouted and said, "Great is truth, and strongest of all!"
42 Then the king said to him, "Ask what you wish, even beyond what is written, and we will give it to you, for you have been found to be the wisest. You shall sit next to me, and be called my Kinsman."
43 Then he said to the king, "Remember the vow that you made on the day when you became king, to build Jerusalem,
44 and to send back all the vessels that were taken from Jerusalem, which Cyrus set apart when he began to destroy Babylon, and vowed to send them back there.
45 You also vowed to build the temple, which the Edomites burned when Judea was laid waste by the Chaldeans.
46 And now, O lord the king, this is what I ask and request of you, and this befits your greatness. I pray therefore that you fulfill the vow whose fulfillment you vowed to the King of heaven with your own lips."
47 Then King Darius got up and kissed him, and wrote letters for him to all the treasurers and governors and generals and satraps, that they should give safe conduct to him and to all who were going up with him to build Jerusalem.
48 And he wrote letters to all the governors in Coelesyria and Phoenicia and to those in Lebanon, to bring cedar timber from Lebanon to Jerusalem, and to help him build the city.
49 He wrote in behalf of all the Jews who were going up from his kingdom to Judea, in the interest of their freedom, that no officer or satrap or governor or treasurer should forcibly enter their doors;
50 that all the country that they would occupy should be theirs without tribute; that the Idumeans should give up the villages of the Jews that they held;
51 that twenty talents a year should be given for the building of the temple until it was completed,
52 and an additional ten talents a year for burnt offerings to be offered on the altar every day, in accordance with the commandment to make seventeen offerings;
53 and that all who came from Babylonia to build the city should have their freedom, they and their children and all the priests who came.
54 He wrote also concerning their support and the priests' vestments in which they were to minister.
55 He wrote that the support for the Levites should be provided until the day when the temple would be finished and Jerusalem built.
56 He wrote that land and wages should be provided for all who guarded the city.
57 And he sent back from Babylon all the vessels that Cyrus had set apart; everything that Cyrus had ordered to be done, he also commanded to be done and to be sent to Jerusalem.
58 When the young man went out, he lifted up his face to heaven toward Jerusalem, and praised the King of heaven, saying,
59 "From you comes the victory; from you comes wisdom, and yours is the glory. I am your servant.
60 Blessed are you, who have given me wisdom; I give you thanks, O Lord of our ancestors."
61 So he took the letters, and went to Babylon and told this to all his kindred.
62 And they praised the God of their ancestors, because he had given them release and permission
63 to go up and build Jerusalem and the temple that is called by his name; and they feasted, with music and rejoicing, for seven days.
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1 After this the heads of ancestral houses were chosen to go up, according to their tribes, with their wives and sons and daughters, and their male and female servants, and their livestock.
2 And Darius sent with them a thousand cavalry to take them back to Jerusalem in safety, with the music of drums and flutes;
3 all their kindred were making merry. And he made them go up with them.
4 These are the names of the men who went up, according to their ancestral houses in the tribes, over their groups:
5 the priests, the descendants of Phinehas son of Aaron; Jeshua son of Jozadak son of Seraiah and Joakim son of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, of the house of David, of the lineage of Phares, of the tribe of Judah,
6 who spoke wise words before King Darius of the Persians, in the second year of his reign, in the month of Nisan, the first month.
7 These are the Judeans who came up out of their sojourn in exile, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away to Babylon
8 and who returned to Jerusalem and the rest of Judea, each to his own town. They came with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Resaiah, Eneneus, Mordecai, Beelsarus, Aspharasus, Reeliah, Rehum, and Baanah, their leaders.
9 The number of those of the nation and their leaders: the descendants of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two. The descendants of Shephatiah, four hundred seventy-two.
10 The descendants of Arah, seven hundred fifty-six.
11 The descendants of Pahath-moab, of the descendants of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred twelve.
12 The descendants of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. The descendants of Zattu, nine hundred forty-five. The descendants of Chorbe, seven hundred five. The descendants of Bani, six hundred forty-eight.
13 The descendants of Bebai, six hundred twenty-three. The descendants of Azgad, one thousand three hundred twenty-two.
14 The descendants of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-seven. The descendants of Bigvai, two thousand sixty-six. The descendants of Adin, four hundred fifty-four.
15 The descendants of Ater, namely of Hezekiah, ninety-two. The descendants of Kilan and Azetas, sixty-seven. The descendants of Azaru, four hundred thirty-two.
16 The descendants of Annias, one hundred one. The descendants of Arom. The descendants of Bezai, three hundred twenty-three. The descendants of Arsiphurith, one hundred twelve.
17 The descendants of Baiterus, three thousand five. The descendants of Bethlomon, one hundred twenty-three.
18 Those from Netophah, fifty-five. Those from Anathoth, one hundred fifty-eight. Those from Bethasmoth, forty-two.
19 Those from Kiriatharim, twenty-five. Those from Chephirah and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three.
20 The Chadiasans and Ammidians, four hundred twenty-two. Those from Kirama and Geba, six hundred twenty-one.
21 Those from Macalon, one hundred twenty-two. Those from Betolio, fifty-two. The descendants of Niphish, one hundred fifty-six.
22 The descendants of the other Calamolalus and Ono, seven hundred twenty-five. The descendants of Jerechus, three hundred forty-five.
23 The descendants of Senaah, three thousand three hundred thirty.
24 The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah son of Jeshua, of the descendants of Anasib, nine hundred seventy-two. The descendants of Immer, one thousand and fifty-two.
25 The descendants of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven. The descendants of Charme, one thousand seventeen.
26 The Levites: the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel and Bannas and Sudias, seventy-four.
27 The temple singers: the descendants of Asaph, one hundred twenty-eight.
28 The gatekeepers: the descendants of Shallum, the descendants of Ater, the descendants of Talmon, the descendants of Akkub, the descendants of Hatita, the descendants of Shobai, in all one hundred thirty-nine.
29 The temple servants: the descendants of Esau, the descendants of Hasupha, the descendants of Tabbaoth, the descendants of Keros, the descendants of Sua, the descendants of Padon, the descendants of Lebanah, the descendants of Hagabah,
30 the descendants of Akkub, the descendants of Uthai, the descendants of Ketab, the descendants of Hagab, the descendants of Subai, the descendants of Hana, the descendants of Cathua, the descendants of Geddur,
31 the descendants of Jairus, the descendants of Daisan, the descendants of Noeba, the descendants of Chezib, the descendants of Gazera, the descendants of Uzza, the descendants of Phinoe, the descendants of Hasrah, the descendants of Basthai, the descendants of Asnah, the descendants of Maani, the descendants of Nephisim, the descendants of Acuph, the descendants of Hakupha, the descendants of Asur, the descendants of Pharakim, the descendants of Bazluth,
32 the descendants of Mehida, the descendants of Cutha, the descendants of Charea, the descendants of Barkos, the descendants of Serar, the descendants of Temah, the descendants of Neziah, the descendants of Hatipha.
33 The descendants of Solomon's servants: the descendants of Assaphioth, the descendants of Peruda, the descendants of Jaalah, the descendants of Lozon, the descendants of Isdael, the descendants of Shephatiah,
34 the descendants of Agia, the descendants of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the descendants of Sarothie, the descendants of Masiah, the descendants of Gas, the descendants of Addus, the descendants of Subas, the descendants of Apherra, the descendants of Barodis, the descendants of Shaphat, the descendants of Allon.
35 All the temple servants and the descendants of Solomon's servants were three hundred seventy-two.
36 The following are those who came up from Tel-melah and Tel-harsha, under the leadership of Cherub, Addan, and Immer,
37 though they could not prove by their ancestral houses or lineage that they belonged to Israel: the descendants of Delaiah son of Tobiah, and the descendants of Nekoda, six hundred fifty-two.
38 Of the priests the following had assumed the priesthood but were not found registered: the descendants of Habaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Jaddus who had married Agia, one of the daughters of Barzillai, and was called by his name.
39 When a search was made in the register and the genealogy of these men was not found, they were excluded from serving as priests.
40 And Nehemiah and Attharias told them not to share in the holy things until a high priest should appear wearing Urim and Thummim.
41 All those of Israel, twelve or more years of age, besides male and female servants, were forty-two thousand three hundred sixty;
42 their male and female servants were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; there were two hundred forty-five musicians and singers.
43 There were four hundred thirty-five camels, and seven thousand thirty-six horses, two hundred forty-five mules, and five thousand five hundred twenty-five donkeys.
44 Some of the heads of families, when they came to the temple of God that is in Jerusalem, vowed that, to the best of their ability, they would erect the house on its site,
45 and that they would give to the sacred treasury for the work a thousand minas of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priests' vestments.
46 The priests, the Levites, and some of the people settled in Jerusalem and its vicinity; and the temple singers, the gatekeepers, and all Israel in their towns.
47 When the seventh month came, and the Israelites were all in their own homes, they gathered with a single purpose in the square before the first gate toward the east.
48 Then Jeshua son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, with his kinsmen, took their places and prepared the altar of the God of Israel,
49 to offer burnt offerings upon it, in accordance with the directions in the book of Moses the man of God.
50 And some joined them from the other peoples of the land. And they erected the altar in its place, for all the peoples of the land were hostile to them and were stronger than they; and they offered sacrifices at the proper times and burnt offerings to the Lord morning and evening.
51 They kept the festival of booths, as it is commanded in the law, and offered the proper sacrifices every day,
52 and thereafter the regular offerings and sacrifices on sabbaths and at new moons and at all the consecrated feasts.
53 And all who had made any vow to God began to offer sacrifices to God, from the new moon of the seventh month, though the temple of God was not yet built.
54 They gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food and drink
55 and carts to the Sidonians and the Tyrians, to bring cedar logs from Lebanon and convey them in rafts to the harbor of Joppa, according to the decree that they had in writing from King Cyrus of the Persians.
56 In the second year after their coming to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with their kindred and the levitical priests and all who had come back to Jerusalem from exile;
57 and they laid the foundation of the temple of God on the new moon of the second month in the second year after they came to Judea and Jerusalem.
58 They appointed the Levites who were twenty or more years of age to have charge of the work of the Lord. And Jeshua arose, and his sons and kindred and his brother Kadmiel and the sons of Jeshua Emadabun and the sons of Joda son of Iliadun, with their sons and kindred, all the Levites, pressing forward the work on the house of God with a single purpose. So the builders built the temple of the Lord.
59 And the priests stood arrayed in their vestments, with musical instruments and trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals,
60 praising the Lord and blessing him, according to the directions of King David of Israel;
61 they sang hymns, giving thanks to the Lord, "For his goodness and his glory are forever upon all Israel."
62 And all the people sounded trumpets and shouted with a great shout, praising the Lord for the erection of the house of the Lord.
63 Some of the levitical priests and heads of ancestral houses, old men who had seen the former house, came to the building of this one with outcries and loud weeping,
64 while many came with trumpets and a joyful noise,
65 so that the people could not hear the trumpets because of the weeping of the people. For the multitude sounded the trumpets loudly, so that the sound was heard far away;
66 and when the enemies of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin heard it, they came to find out what the sound of the trumpets meant.
67 They learned that those who had returned from exile were building the temple for the Lord God of Israel.
68 So they approached Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the heads of the ancestral houses and said to them, "We will build with you.
69 For we obey your Lord just as you do and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of King Esar-haddon of the Assyrians, who brought us here."
70 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the heads of the ancestral houses in Israel said to them, "You have nothing to do with us in building the house for the Lord our God,
71 for we alone will build it for the Lord of Israel, as Cyrus, the king of the Persians, has commanded us."
72 But the peoples of the land pressed hard upon those in Judea, cut off their supplies, and hindered their building;
73 and by plots and demagoguery and uprisings they prevented the completion of the building as long as King Cyrus lived. They were kept from building for two years,
until the reign of Darius.
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1 Now in the second year of the reign of Darius, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews who were in Judea and Jerusalem; they prophesied to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel.
2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began to build the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, with the help of the prophets of the Lord who were with them.
3 At the same time Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phoenicia and Sathrabuzanes and their associates came to them and said,
4 "By whose order are you building this house and this roof and finishing all the other things? And who are the builders that are finishing these things?"
5 Yet the elders of the Jews were dealt with kindly, for the providence of the Lord was over the captives;
6 they were not prevented from building until word could be sent to Darius concerning them and a report made.
7 A copy of the letter that Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and their associates the local rulers in Syria and Phoenicia, wrote and sent to Darius:
8 "To King Darius, greetings. Let it be fully known to our lord the king that, when we went to the country of Judea and entered the city of Jerusalem, we found the elders of the Jews, who had been in exile,
9 building in the city of Jerusalem a great new house for the Lord, of hewn stone, with costly timber laid in the walls.
10 These operations are going on rapidly, and the work is prospering in their hands and being completed with all splendor and care.
11 Then we asked these elders, "At whose command are you building this house and laying the foundations of this structure?'
12 In order that we might inform you in writing who the leaders are, we questioned them and asked them for a list of the names of those who are at their head.
13 They answered us, "We are the servants of the Lord who created the heaven and the earth.
14 The house was built many years ago by a king of Israel who was great and strong, and it was finished.
15 But when our ancestors sinned against the Lord of Israel who is in heaven, and provoked him, he gave them over into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, king of the Chaldeans;
16 and they pulled down the house, and burned it, and carried the people away captive to Babylon.
17 But in the first year that Cyrus reigned over the country of Babylonia, King Cyrus wrote that this house should be rebuilt.
18 And the holy vessels of gold and of silver, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the house in Jerusalem and stored in his own temple, these King Cyrus took out again from the temple in Babylon, and they were delivered to Zerubbabel and Sheshbazzar the governor
19 with the command that he should take all these vessels back and put them in the temple at Jerusalem, and that this temple of the Lord should be rebuilt on its site.
20 Then this Sheshbazzar, after coming here, laid the foundations of the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. Although it has been in process of construction from that time until now, it has not yet reached completion.'
21 Now therefore, O king, if it seems wise to do so, let search be made in the royal archives of our lord the king that are in Babylon;
22 if it is found that the building of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem was done with the consent of King Cyrus, and if it is approved by our lord the king,
let him send us directions concerning these things."
23 Then Darius commanded that search be made in the royal archives that were deposited in Babylon. And in Ecbatana, the fortress that is in the country of Media,
a scroll was found in which this was recorded:
24 "In the first year of the reign of King Cyrus, he ordered the building of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, where they sacrifice with perpetual fire;
25 its height to be sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, with three courses of hewn stone and one course of new native timber; the cost to be paid from the treasury of King Cyrus;
26 and that the holy vessels of the house of the Lord, both of gold and of silver, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the house in Jerusalem and carried away to Babylon, should be restored to the house in Jerusalem, to be placed where they had been."
27 So Darius commanded Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and their associates, and those who were appointed as local rulers in Syria and Phoenicia, to keep away from the place, and to permit Zerubbabel, the servant of the Lord and governor of Judea, and the elders of the Jews to build this house of the Lord on its site.
28 "And I command that it be built completely, and that full effort be made to help those who have returned from the exile of Judea, until the house of the Lord is finished;
29 and that out of the tribute of Coelesyria and Phoenicia a portion be scrupulously given to these men, that is, to Zerubbabel the governor, for sacrifices to the Lord, for bulls and rams and lambs,
30 and likewise wheat and salt and wine and oil, regularly every year, without quibbling, for daily use as the priests in Jerusalem may indicate,
31 in order that libations may be made to the Most High God for the king and his children, and prayers be offered for their lives."
32 He commanded that if anyone should transgress or nullify any of the things herein written, a beam should be taken out of the house of the perpetrator, who then should be impaled upon it, and all property forfeited to the king.
33 "Therefore may the Lord, whose name is there called upon, destroy every king and nation that shall stretch out their hands to hinder or damage that house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
34 "I, King Darius, have decreed that it be done with all diligence as here prescribed."
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