The Proclamation of Cyrus

1 ^aIn the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, ^bthat the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so ^cthat he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and ^dhe has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—^ehe is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, ^feveryone whose spirit ^gGod had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them ^haided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 ⁱCyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that ^jNebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of ^kMithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to ^lSheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: ^m30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

The Exiles Return

1 ⁿNow these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles ^owhom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. 2 They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, ^pMordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

The number of the men of the people of Israel: 3 ^qthe sons of Parosh, 2,172. 4 The sons of Shephatiah, 372. 5 The sons of Arah, 775. 6 The sons of Pahath-moab, namely the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812. 7 The sons of Elam, 1,254. 8 The sons of Zattu, 945. 9 The sons of Zaccai, 760. 10 The sons of Bani, 642. 11 The sons of Bebai, 623. 12 The sons of Azgad, 1,222. 13 The sons of Adonikam, 666. 14 The sons of Bigvai, 2,056. 15 The sons of Adin, 454. 16 The sons of Ater, namely of Hezekiah, 98. 17 The sons of Bezai, 323. 18 The sons of Jorah, 112. 19 The sons of Hashum, 223. 20 The sons of Gibbar, 95. 21 The sons of Bethlehem, 123. 22 The men of Netophah, 56. 23 The men of Anathoth, 128. 24 The sons of Azmaveth, 42. 25 The sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743. 26 The sons of Ramah and Geba, 621. 27 The men of Michmas, 122. 28 The men of Bethel and Ai, 223. 29 The sons of Nebo, 52. 30 The sons of Magbish, 156. 31 The sons of ^rthe other Elam, 1,254. 32 The sons of Harim, 320. 33 The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 725. 34 The sons of Jericho, 345. 35 The sons of Senaah, 3,630.

36 The priests: the ^ssons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, 973. 37 The sons of Immer, 1,052. 38 The ^tsons of Pashhur, 1,247. 39 The sons of Harim, 1,017.

40 The Levites: the sons of ^uJeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah, 74. 41 The singers: the sons of ^vAsaph, 128. 42 The sons of the ^wgatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, and the sons of Shobai, in all 139.

43 ^xThe temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, 44 the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, 45 the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, 46 the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shamlai, the sons of Hanan, 47 the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah, 48 the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam, 49 the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai, 50 the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephisim, 51 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, 52 the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, 53 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, 54 the sons of Neziah, and the sons of Hatipha.

55 ^yThe sons of Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda, 56 the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, 57 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, and the sons of Ami.

58 All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon’s servants were 392.

59 The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, ^zthough they could not prove their fathers’ houses or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: 60 the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nekoda, 652. 61 Also, of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, and the sons of ^aBarzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name). 62 These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and ^bso they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 63 The ^cgovernor told them that they were not ^dto partake of the most holy food, until there should be a priest to consult ^eUrim and Thummim.

64 ^fThe whole assembly together was 42,360, 65 besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337, and they had 200 male and female ^gsingers. 66 Their horses were 736, their mules were 245, 67 their camels were 435, and their donkeys were 6,720.

68 ^hSome of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. 69 According to their ability they gave to ⁱthe treasury of the work 61,000 darics¹ of gold, 5,000 minas² of silver, and 100 priests’ garments.

70 ^jNow the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel³ in their towns.

Ascribe to the Lord Glory

A Psalm of David.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

1 ^lIn those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 ^m“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, ⁿ“Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and ^ohaving given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And ^phaving blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And ^qthey ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, ⁿseven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into ^rthe boat with his disciples and went to the district of ^sDalmanutha.¹

The Pharisees Demand a Sign

11 ^tThe Pharisees came and began to argue with him, ^useeking from him ^va sign from heaven ^wto test him. 12 And ^xhe sighed deeply ^yin his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And ^zhe left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; ^abeware of ^bthe leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of ^cHerod.”² 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And ^dJesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? ^eDo you not yet perceive ^for understand? ^fAre your hearts hardened? 18 ^gHaving eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke ^hthe five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And ⁱthe seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

22 And they came ^jto Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And ^khe took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when ^khe had ^lspit on his eyes and ^mlaid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus³ laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, ⁿ“Do not even enter the village.”

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

27 ^oAnd Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, ^p“John the Baptist; and others say, ^qElijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, ^r“You are ^sthe Christ.” 30 ^tAnd he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

31 ^uAnd he began to teach them that ^vthe Son of Man must ^wsuffer many things and ^xbe rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and ^yafter three days rise again. 32 And he said this ^zplainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ^a“Get behind me, Satan! For you ^bare not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him ^cdeny himself and ^dtake up his cross and follow me. 35 For ^dwhoever would save his life⁴ will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake ^eand the gospel’s will save it. 36 ^fFor what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For ^gwhat can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For ^hwhoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this ⁱadulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed ^jwhen he comes in the glory of his Father with ^kthe holy angels.”