(KJV) Ezra 61

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⥃The Decree of Darius

[1] Then Darius the king made a decree, and search2 was made in the house of the rolls3, where the treasures were laid up4 in Babylon. [2] And there was found at Achmetha5, in the palace that [is] in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein [was] a record thus written: [3] In the first year6 of Cyrus the king [the same] Cyrus the king made a decree [concerning] the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place7 where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height8 thereof threescore cubits, [and] the breadth thereof threescore cubits; [4] [With] three rows9 of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses10 be given out of the king’s house: [5] And also let the golden11 and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar12 took forth out of the temple which [is] at Jerusalem, and brought13 unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which [is] at Jerusalem, [every one] to his place, and place [them] in the house of God. [6] Now [therefore], Tatnai14, governor beyond the river, Shethar–boznai, and your companions15 the Apharsachites, which [are] beyond the river, be ye far16 from thence: [7] Let the work17 of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place. [8] Moreover I make a decree18 what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s19 goods, [even] of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered20. [9] And that which they have need of, both young bullocks21, and rams, and lambs22, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat23, salt24, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which [are] at Jerusalem, let it be given25 them day by day without fail: [10] That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours26 unto the God of heaven, and pray27 for the life of the king, and of his sons. [11] Also I have made a decree, that whosoever28 shall alter this word, let timber29 be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged30 thereon; and let his house31 be made a dunghill for this. [12] And the God that hath caused32 his name to dwell there destroy33 all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter [and] to destroy this house of God which [is] at Jerusalem. I Darius34 have made a decree; let it be done with speed35.

⥃The Temple Completed

[13] Then Tatnai36, governor on this side the river, Shethar–boznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did37 speedily. [14] And the elders38 of the Jews builded, and they prospered through39 the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished [it40], according41 to the commandment42 of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus43, and Darius, and Artaxerxes44 king of Persia. [15] And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar45, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.46

⥃Dedication of the Temple

[16] [¶]And the children47 of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity48, kept the dedication49 of this house of God with joy50, [17] And offered51 at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering52 for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to53 the number of the tribes of Israel. [18] And they set the priests54 in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which [is] at Jerusalem; as it is written55 in the book of Moses.

⥃The Returned Exiles Keep the Passover

[19] And the children56 of the captivity kept57 the passover upon the fourteenth [day] of the first month. [20] For the priests and the Levites were purified together58, all of them [were] pure, and killed59 the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. [21] And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such60 as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat61, [22] And kept the feast62 of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned63 the heart of the king64 of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

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  1. Ezra 6:1, Darius, finding the decree of Cyrus, makes a new decree for the advancement of the building; Ezra 6:13, By the help of Tatnai and Shethar–boznai, according to the decree, the temple is finished; Ezra 6:16, The feast of the dedication is kept; Ezra 6:19, and the passover. ↩

  2. Ezra 4:15, Ezra 4:19, Ezra 5:17; Job 29:16; Prov 25:2 ↩

  3. Chal, books, Ps 40:7; Jer 36:2-4, Jer 36:20-23, Jer 36:29, Jer 36:32; Ezek 2:9, Ezek 3:1; Rev 5:1 ↩

  4. Chal, made to descend ↩

  5. or, at Ecbatana, or, in a coffer, ΰηξϊΰ ( ‎אַרְגָּז‎ ), probably from the Persian Mx, kham, "a house for a summer residence," with a prefix, ΰ, aleph, and the Chaldee termination )t, tha, most likely denotes Ecbatana, as the Vulgate and Josephus read, the summer residence of the Persian monarchs. It was situated in a mountainous region at the foot of mount Orontes, or Jasonius, according to Ammianus, on the southern confines of Media and Persia, and according to Pliny, 750 miles from Seleucia the Great, 20 miles from the Caspian passes, 450 miles from Susa, and the same from Gaze Atropatene, and in lat. 37 degrees 45 min., long. 88 degrees, according to Ptolemy. The building of the city is ascribed to Semiramis by Diodorus, but to Deioces by Eusebius (in Chron. Ezra 1:1), and Herodotus, who states that it was surrounded by seven walls, strong and ample, built in circles one within another, rising each above each by the height of their respective battlements; each being distinguished by a different colour, the first white, the second black, the third purple, the fourth blue, the fifth orange, the sixth plated with silver, and the seventh with gold. The largest of these was nearly the extent of Athens, i.e., 200 furlongs, according to Dion Chrysostom; but Diodorus Siculus states the circumference of Ecbatana to be 250 furlongs. Within the inner circle stood the king's palace and the royal treasury, so much celebrated for its splendour and riches by Polybius. It is highly probable, as D'Anville and Major Rennel suppose, that the present Hamadan, whose ruins attest its former splendour, occupies the site of Ecbatana. It is situated in Al Gebal, at the foot of the lofty mountain Alwend, about 80 leagues from Ispahan, and also from Bagdad. ↩

  6. Ezra 1:1-4, Ezra 5:13-15; 2Chr 36:22-23 ↩

  7. Deut 12:5-6, Deut 12:11-14; 2Chr 2:6; Ps 122:4 ↩

  8. 1Kgs 6:2-3; 2Chr 3:3-4; Ezek 41:13-15; Rev 21:16 ↩

  9. 1Kgs 6:36 ↩

  10. Ezra 7:20-23; Ps 68:29, Ps 72:10; Isa 49:23, Isa 60:6-10; Rev 12:16 ↩

  11. Ezra 1:7-8, Ezra 5:14; Jer 27:16, Jer 27:18-22; Dan 1:2, Dan 5:2 ↩

  12. 2Kgs 24:13, 2Kgs 25:14-15; 2Chr 36:6-7, 2Chr 36:10, 2Chr 36:18; Jer 52:19 ↩

  13. Chal, go ↩

  14. Ezra 5:3 ↩

  15. Chal, their societies, Ezra 5:6 ↩

  16. Gen 32:28, Gen 43:14; Neh 1:11; Ps 76:10; Prov 21:1, Prov 21:30; Isa 27:8; Acts 4:26-28; Rom 8:31 ↩

  17. Acts 5:38-39 ↩

  18. Chal, by me a decree is made ↩

  19. Ezra 6:4, Ezra 4:16, Ezra 4:20, Ezra 7:15-22; Ps 68:29-31; Hag 2:8 ↩

  20. Chal, made to cease, Ezra 4:21, Ezra 4:23, Ezra 5:5 ↩

  21. Lev 1:3-5, Lev 1:10, Lev 9:2; Ps 50:9-13 ↩

  22. Exod 29:38-42; Num. 28:1-29:40 ↩

  23. Lev 2:1-16; Num 15:4-31; 1Chr 9:29 ↩

  24. Lev 2:13; Mark 9:49 ↩

  25. Isa 49:23 ↩

  26. Chal, rest, Gen 8:21; Lev 1:9, Lev 1:13; Eph 5:2 ↩

  27. Ezra 7:23; Jer 29:7; 1Tim 2:1-2 ↩

  28. Ezra 7:26 ↩

  29. Esth 5:4, Esth 7:10 ↩

  30. Chal, destroyed ↩

  31. 2Kgs 9:37, 2Kgs 10:27; Dan 2:5, Dan 3:29 ↩

  32. Exod 20:24; Deut 12:5, Deut 12:11, Deut 16:2; 1Kgs 9:3; 2Chr 7:16; Ps 132:13-14 ↩

  33. Ps 5:10, Ps 21:8-10, Ps 137:8-9; Isa 60:12; Obad 1:10; Zech 12:2-4; Acts 5:38-39, Acts 9:5; Rev 19:14-21 ↩

  34. Esth 3:14-15, Esth 8:14 ↩

  35. Ezra 6:13; Eccl 9:10 ↩

  36. Ezra 4:9, Ezra 4:23, Ezra 5:6 ↩

  37. Esth 6:11; Job 5:12-13; Prov 29:26 ↩

  38. Ezra 3:8, Ezra 4:3 ↩

  39. Ezra 5:1-2; Hag 1:12-14, Hag 2:2-15; Zech. 2:1-4:14, Zech 6:1-15 ↩

  40. Zech 4:9 ↩

  41. Isa 44:28; Hag 1:8 ↩

  42. Chal, decree ↩

  43. Ezra 6:13, Ezra 1:1-4, Ezra 4:24, Ezra 5:13 ↩

  44. This was Artaxerxes, the third son and successor of Xerxes, surnamed Μακροχειρ, or Longimanus, or in Persian, Ardsheer deeraz dest, "Ardsheer the long-handed;" so called, according to the Greeks, from the extra-ordinary length of his hands, but according to the Easterners, from the extent of his dominions. He ascended the Persian throne, am 3540, bc 464, and reigned forty-one years. He is said to have been the most handsome person of his age, and to have been a prince of a very mild and generous disposition. Ezra 7:1 ↩

  45. Esth 3:7, Esth 3:13, Esth 8:12, Esth 9:1, Esth 9:15, Esth 9:17, Esth 9:19, Esth 9:21 ↩

  46. am 3489, bc 515 ↩

  47. 1Chr 9:2; Neh 7:73 ↩

  48. Chal, sons of the transportation, Ezra 4:1 ↩

  49. 1Kgs 8:63; 2Chr 7:5, 2Chr 7:9; John 10:22 ↩

  50. Ezra 6:22, Ezra 3:11-12; Deut 12:7; 1Chr 15:28; 2Chr 7:10, 2Chr 30:23, 2Chr 30:26; Neh 8:10, Neh 12:43; Ps 122:1; Phil 4:4; Having set up the worship of God in this dedication, they took care to keep it up, and made the book of Moses their rule, to which they had an eye in this establishment. Though the temple service could not now be performed with so much pomp and plenty as formerly, because of their poverty, yet no doubt it was performed with as much purity and close adherence to the Divine institutions as ever. No beauty is like the beauty of holiness. ↩

  51. Ezra 8:35; Num 7:2-89; 1Kgs 8:63-64; 1Chr 16:1-3; 2Chr 7:5, 2Chr 29:31-35 ↩

  52. Lev 4:3, Lev 4:13-14, Lev 4:22-23, Lev 4:28; 2Chr 29:21-23 ↩

  53. Though the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, with the priests and Levites, formed the bulk of the people, yet many from the other tribes had returned with them from captivity. 1Kgs 18:31; Luke 22:30; Rev 7:4-8, Rev 21:12 ↩

  54. 1Chr. 23:1-26:32; 2Chr 35:4-5 ↩

  55. Chal, according to the writing, Num 3:6, Num 8:9-26 ↩

  56. Ezra 6:16 ↩

  57. Exod 12:6-36; Josh 5:10; 2Chr. 30:1-35:27 ↩

  58. 2Chr 29:34, 2Chr 30:15-17 ↩

  59. Exod 12:21; 2Chr 35:11; Heb 7:27 ↩

  60. Ezra 9:11; Num 9:6-7, Num 9:10-14; Isa 52:11; Ezek 36:25; 2Cor 6:17, 2Cor 7:1 ↩

  61. Exod 12:47-49; Ps 93:5 ↩

  62. Exod 12:15-20, Exod 13:6-7; 2Chr 30:21, 2Chr 35:17; Matt 26:17; 1Cor 5:7-8 ↩

  63. Ezra 7:27; Prov 16:7, Prov 21:1; John 19:11 ↩

  64. Darius, as reigning over the country of Assyria, is here called "the king of Assyria." Ezra 6:6-12, Ezra 1:1; 2Kgs 23:29; 2Chr 33:11; Zech 10:10-11 ↩