1
Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.
2
And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that [is] in the province of the Medes, a roll, and in it [was] a record thus written:
3
In the first year of Cyrus the king, [the same] Cyrus the king made a decree [concerning] the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be built, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations of it be strongly laid; the hight of it sixty cubits, [and] the breadth of it sixty cubits;
4
[With] three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house:
5
And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple which [is] at Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored, and brought again to the temple which [is] at Jerusalem, [every one] to its place, and place [them] in the house of God.
6
Now [therefore], Tatnai governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who [are] beyond the river, be ye far from thence:
7
Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews, and the elders of the Jews, build this house of God in its place.
8
Moreover, I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, [even] of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given to these men, that they be not hindered.