Decreto de Ciro
1En el primer año del reinado de Ciro, rey de Persia, el Señor dispuso el corazón del rey para que este promulgara un decreto en todo su reino y así se cumpliera la palabra del Señor por medio del profeta Jeremías. Tanto oralmente como por escrito, el rey decretó lo siguiente:
2«Esto es lo que ordena Ciro, rey de Persia:
»El Señor, Dios del cielo, que me ha dado todos los reinos de la tierra, me ha encargado que le construya un templo en la ciudad de Jerusalén, que está en Judá. 3Por tanto, cualquiera que pertenezca a Judá, vaya a Jerusalén a construir el templo del Señor, Dios de Israel, el Dios que habita en Jerusalén; y que Dios lo acompañe. 4También ordeno que los habitantes de cada lugar donde haya judíos sobrevivientes los ayuden dándoles plata y oro, bienes y ganado, y ofrendas voluntarias para el templo de Dios en Jerusalén».
El regreso de los judíos
5Entonces los jefes de familia de Benjamín y de Judá, junto con los sacerdotes y levitas, es decir, con todos aquellos en cuyo corazón Dios puso el deseo de construir el templo, se dispusieron a ir a Jerusalén. 6Todos sus vecinos los ayudaron con plata y oro, bienes y ganado, objetos valiosos y todo tipo de ofrendas voluntarias. 7Además, el rey Ciro hizo sacar los utensilios que Nabucodonosor se había llevado del templo del Señor en Jerusalén y había depositado en el templo de su dios.1:7 su dios. Alt. sus dioses. 8Ciro los entregó a su tesorero Mitrídates, el cual los contó y se los pasó a Sesbasar, jefe de Judá.
9El inventario de dichos utensilios fue el siguiente:
11En total fueron cinco mil cuatrocientos los utensilios de oro y de plata. Todos estos objetos los llevó Sesbasar a Jerusalén cuando a los deportados se les permitió regresar de Babilonia.
Cyrus Helps the Jews to Return to Jerusalem
1It was the first year of the rule of Cyrus. He was king of Persia. The Lord inspired him to send a message all through his kingdom. It happened so that what the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah would come true. The message was written down. It said,
2“Cyrus, the king of Persia, says,
“ ‘The Lord is the God of heaven. He has given me all the kingdoms on earth. He has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem and build the Lord’s temple. He is the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. And may their God be with them. 4The people still left alive in every place must bring gifts to the people going. They must provide silver and gold to the people going up to Jerusalem. The people must bring goods and livestock. They should also bring any offerings they choose to. All those gifts will be for God’s temple in Jerusalem.’ ”
5Then everyone God had inspired prepared to go. They wanted to go up to Jerusalem and build the Lord’s temple there. They included the family leaders of Judah and Benjamin. They also included the priests and Levites. 6All their neighbors helped them. They gave them silver and gold objects. They gave them goods and livestock. And they gave them gifts of great value. All those things were added to the other offerings the people chose to give.
7King Cyrus also brought out the objects that belonged to the Lord’s temple. Nebuchadnezzar had carried them off from Jerusalem. He had put them in the temple of his own god. 8Cyrus, the king of Persia, told Mithredath to bring them out. Mithredath was in charge of the temple treasures. He counted those objects. Then he gave them to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
9Here is a list of the objects.
There were 30 gold dishes.
There were 1,000 silver dishes.
There were 29 silver pans.
10There were 30 gold bowls.
There were 410 matching silver bowls.
There were 1,000 other objects.
11The total number of gold and silver objects was 5,400.
Sheshbazzar brought all of these back with him to Jerusalem. So Sheshbazzar and the Jews who had been forced to leave Judah came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
