First Reading

In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,

in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,

the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia

to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom,

both by word of mouth and in writing:

"Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia:

'All the kingdoms of the earth

the Lord, the God of heaven, has given to me,

and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem,

which is in Judah.

Therefore, whoever among you belongs to any part of his people,

let him go up, and may his God be with him!

Let everyone who has survived, in whatever place he may have dwelt,

be assisted by the people of that place

with silver, gold, goods, and cattle,

together with free-will offerings

for the house of God in Jerusalem.'"

Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin

and the priests and Levites–

everyone, that is, whom God had inspired to do so–

prepared to go up to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

All their neighbors gave them help in every way,

with silver, gold, goods, and cattle,

and with many precious gifts

besides all their free-will offerings.