1
Then Darius the king made a decree, and they sought in the house of the books of the treasuries placed there in Babylon,
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and there hath been found at Achmetha, in a palace that [is] in the province of Media, a roll, and a record thus written within it [is]:
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`In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king hath made a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: the house let be builded in the place where they are sacrificing sacrifices, and its foundations strongly laid; its height sixty cubits, its breadth sixty cubits;
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three rows of rolled stones, and a row of new wood, and the outlay let be given out of the king's house.
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`And also, the vessels of the house of God, of gold and silver, that Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple that [is] in Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, let be given back, and go to the temple that [is] in Jerusalem, [each] to its place, and put [them] down in the house of God.
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`Now, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-Boznai, and their companions, the Apharsachites, who [are] beyond the river, be ye far from hence;
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let alone the work of this house of God, let the governor of the Jews, and the elders of the Jews, build this house of God on its place.
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`And by me is made a decree concerning that which ye do with the elders of these Jews to build this house of God, that of the riches of the king, that [are] of the tribute beyond the river, speedily let the outlay be given to these men, that they cease not;
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and what they are needing -- both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs for burnt-offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil according to the saying of the priests who [are] in Jerusalem -- let be given to them day by day without fail,