The First Book of Esdras, chapters 1 - 4
1 JOSIAH KEPT the Passover at Jerusalem in honour of his Lord
and sacrificed the Passover victims at Jerusalem in honour of his Lord
and sacrificed the Passover victims on the fourteenth day of the first
month. The priests, duly robed in their vestments, he stationed in the
temple of the Lord according to the order of daily service. He commanded
the Levites, who served the temple in Israel, to purify themselves for the
Lord, in order to place the holy Ark of the Lord in the house which was
built by King Solomon, son of David. Josiah said to them, 'You are no
longer to carry it on your shoulders. Make yourselves ready now, family
by family and clan by clan, to do the service of the Lord your God and to
minister to his people Israel in the manner prescribed by King David and
provided for so magnificently by his son Solomon. Take your places in the
temple as Levites in the prescribed order of your families in the presence
of your brother Israelites; sacrifice the Passover victims, and prepare the
sacrifices for your brothers. Observe the Passover according to the ordi-
nance of the Lord which was given to Moses.'
To those who were present Josiah made a gift of thirty thousand lambs
and kids and three thousand calves. These he gave from the royal estate in
fulfilment of his promise to the people and to the priests and Levites. The
temple-wardens, Chelkias, Zacharias, and Esyelus, gave the priests two
thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred calves for the Passover.
Jechonias, Samaeas, his brother Nathanael, Sabias, Ozielus, and Joram,
army officers of high rank, gave the Levites five thousand shep and seven
hundred calves for the Passover.
This was the procedure. The priests and the Levites, bearing the un-
leavened bread, stood in all their splendour before the people, in the order
of their clans and families, to make offerings to the Lord as is laid down in
the book of Moses. This took place in the morning . They roasted the Pass-
over victims over the fire in the prescribed way and boiled the sacrifices in
the vessels and cauldrons, and a pleasant smell went up; then they carried
portions round to the whole assembly. After this they made preparations
both for themselves and for their brothers and priests, the sons of Aaron.
The priests went on offering the fat until nightfall, while the Levites made
the preparations both for themselves and for their brothers the priests, the
sons of Aaron. The sons of Asaph, the temple singers, with Asaph, Zacha-
rias, and Eddinous of the royal court, and the door-keepers at each gateway
remained at their station according to the ordinances of David, which pre-
scribe that no one may lawfully default in his daily duty; their brothers
the Levites made the preparations for them. All that pertained to the Lord's
sacrifice was completed that day: the keeping of the Passover and the offer-
ing of the sacrifices on the altar of the Lord according to the command of
King Josiah. The Israelites who were present on this occasion kept the
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. Such a Pass-
over had not been kept in Israel since the time of the prophet Samuel;
none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah,
the priests and the Levites, the men of Judah, and those Israelites who
happened to be resident in Jerusalem. It was in the eighteenth year of
Josiah's reign that this Passover was celebrated.
All that Josiah did he did rightly and in whole-hearted devotion to his
Lord. The events of his reign are to be found in ancient records which tell
a story of sin and rebellion against the Lord graver than that of any other
nation or kingdom, and of offences against him which brought down his
judgement upon Israel.
After all these doings of Josiah's it happened that Pharaoh king of Egypt
was advancing to attack Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah took
the field against him. The king of Egypt sent him this message: "What is
your business with me, king of Judah? It is not against you that the Lord
God has sent me to fight; my campaign is on the Euphrates. The Lord is
with me, the Lord, I say, is with me, driving me on. Withdraw, and do not
oppose the Lord.' Josiah did not turn his chariot but went forward to the
attack. He disregarded what the Lord had said through the prophet Jere-
miah and joined battle with Pharaoh in the plain of Megiddo. Pharaoh's
captains swept down upon king Josiah. The king said to his servants, 'Take
me out of the battle, for I am badly hurt.' At once his servants took him out
of the line and lifted him into his second chariot. He was brought back to
Jerusalem, and there he died and was buried in his ancestral tomb.
All Judah mourned Josiah, and the prophet Jeremiah lamented him.
The lamentation for Josiah has been observed by the chief men and their
wives from that day to this; it was proclaimed that it should be a custom
for ever for the whole people of Israel. These things are recorded in the
book of the histories of the kings of Judah; every deed that Josiah did which
won him fame and showed his understanding of the law of the Lord, both
what he did earlier and what is told of him here, is related in the book of the
kings of Israel and Judah.
His compatriots took Joachaz the son of Josiah and made him king in
succession to his father. He was twenty-three years old, and he reigned over
Judah and Jerusalem for three months. Then the king of Egypt deposed
him, fined the nation a hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold, and
appointed his brother Joakim king of Judah and Jerusalem. Joakim im-
prisoned the leading men and had his brother Zarius arrested and brought
back from Egypt.
Joakim was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah and
Jerusalem; he did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon marched against him; he put him in chains of bronze and
took him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the sacred vessels
of the Lord, carried them off, and put them in his temple in Babylon. The
stories about Joakim, his sacrilegious and godless conduct, are recorded in
the chronicles of the kings.
Joakim was succeeded on the throne by his eighteen-year-old son
Joakim. He reigned in Jerusalem for three months and ten days, and did
what was wring in the eyes of the Lord.
A year later Nebuchadnezzar had him deported to Babylon together
with the sacred vessels of the Lord. He made Zedekiah king of Judah and
Jerusalem. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old and reigned eleven years.
He did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord and disregarded what the
Lord had said through the prophet Jeremiah. King Nebuchadnezzar had
made him take an oath of allegiance by the Lord, but he broke it and
revolted. He was stubborn and defiant, and transgressed the command-
ments of the Lord, the God of Israel.
The leaders of the people and the chief priests committed many wicked
and lawless acts, outdoing even the heathen in sacrilege, and they defiled
the holy temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. The God of their fathers sent his
messenger to reclaim them, because he wished to spare them and his
dwelling-place. But they derided his messengers, and on the very day
when the Lord spoke they were scoffing at his prophets. At last he was
roused to fury against his people for their impieties, and ordained that the
kings of the Chaldaeans should attack them. These put their young men
to the sword all round the holy temple, sparing neither old nor young,
neither boy nor girl ; the Lord handed them over to their enemies. All
the sacred vessels of the Lord, large and small, the furnishings of the Ark
of the Lord, and the royal treasures were carried off to Babylon. The house
of the Lord was set on fire, the walls of Jerusalem destroyed, its towers burnt,
and all its splendour ruined. Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon the
survivors from the slaughter, and they remained slaves to him and his sons
until the Persians took his empire. This fulfilled the word of the Lord spoken
by Jeremiah: 'Until the land has run the full term of its sabbaths, it shall
keep sabbath all the time of its desolation till the end of the seventy years.'
2 DURING THE FIRST YEAR of Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord, in order
to fulfil his word spoken through Jeremiah, moved Cyrus king of Persia to
make a proclamation throughout his empire, which he also put in writing:
'This is the decree of Cyrus king of Persia: the Lord of Israel, the most
high Lord, has made me king of the world and has directed me to build
him a house at Jerusalem in Judaea. Whoever among you belongs to his
people, may his Lord be with him; let him go up to Jerusalem in Judaea
and build the house of the Lord of Israel, the Lord who dwells in Jeru-
salem. Wherever each man lives let his neighbours help him with gold and
silver and other gifts, with horses and pack-animals, together with other
things set aside as votive offerings for the Lord's temple in Jerusalem.'
Then the chiefs of the clans of the tribe of Judah and of Benjamin, the
priests, the Levites, came forward, and all whose spirit the Lord had moved
to go up to build the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. Their neighbours helped
with everything, with silver and gold, horses and pack-animals; and many
were also moved to help with votive offerings in great quantity. King Cyrus
brought out the sacred vessels of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had
taken away from Jerusalem and set up in his idolatrous temple. Cyrus
king of Persia brought them out and delivered them to Mithradates his
treasurer, by whom they were delivered to Sanabassar, the governor of
Judaea. this is the inventory: a thousand gold cups, a thousand silver cups,
twenty-nine silver censers, thirty gold bowls, two thousand four hundred
and ten silver bowls, and a thousand other articles. In all, five thousand
four hundred and sixty-nine gold and silver vessels were returned, and
taken from Babylon to Jerusalem by Sanbassar together with the exiles.
In the time of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Belemus, Mithradates, Tabel-
lius, Rathymus, Beeltethmus, Semellius the secretary, and their colleagues
in office in Samaria and other places, wrote him a letter denouncing the
inhabitants of Judaea and Jerusalem in the following terms:
To our Sovereign Lord Artaxerxes your servants Rathymus the
recorder, Semellius the secretary, the other members of their council,
and the magistrates in Coele-syria and Phoenicia:
This is to inform Your Majesty that the Jews who left you to come here
have arrived in Jerusalem and are rebuilding that wicked and rebellious
city. They are repairing its streets and walls and laying the foundation of
the temple. If this city is rebuilt and the walls completed, they will cease
paying tribute and will rebel against the royal house. Since work on the
temple is in hand, we have thought it well not to neglect this important
matter to bring it to Your Majesty's notice, in order that, if it is Your
Majesty's pleasure, search may be made in the records left by your prede-
cessors. You will find in the archives evidence about these matters and will
learn that this is a city that has resisted authority and given trouble to
kings and to other states, and has been a centre of armed rebellion by the
Jews from the earliest times. That is why it was laid in ruins. Now we sub-
mit to Your Majesty that, if this city be rebuilt and its walls rise again,
you will no longer have access to Coele-syria and Phoenicia.
Then the king wrote to Rathymus the recorder, Beeltethmus, Semellius
the secretary, and their colleagues in office in Samaria, Syria, and Phoenicia
this reply:
I have read your letter. I ordered search to be made and it was dis-
covered that this city has always been opposed to its overlords, and its
inhabitants have raised rebellions and made wars. There were kings in
Jerusalem, powerful and ruthless men, who in their time controlled
Coele-syria and Phoenicia and exacted tribute from them. I therefore
command that the men you mention be prevented from rebuilding the
city, and that measures be taken to enforce this order and to check the
spread of an evil likely to be a nuisance to the royal house.
When the letter from king Artaxerxes had been read, Rathymus,
Semellius the secretary, and their colleagues set out at once for Jerusalem
with cavalry and a large body of other troops and stopped the builders.
The building of the temple was broken off until the second year of the reign
of Darius king of Persia.
3 KING DARIUS held a great feast for all those under him, his household,
the chief men of Media and Persia, and the satraps and commanders
and governors of his empire in the hundred and twenty-seven satrapies
from India to Ethiopia. When they had eaten and drunk their fill, they
went away and King Darius withdrew to his bedchamber; he went to
sleep but woke up again. Then the three young men of the king's personal
bodyguard said to each other: 'Let each of us name the thing which he
judges the strongest; and to the one whose opinion seems wisest King
Darius will give rich gifts and prizes: he shall be clothed in purple, drink
from gold vessels, and sleep on a golden bed; and he shall have a chariot
with gold-studded bridles, and a fine linen turban, and a chain about his
neck. His wisdom shall give him the right to sit next to Darius and to be
given the title of Kinsman of Darius.' Then each wrote down his own state-
ment, sealed it, and put it under the king's pillow. 'When the king wakes
again,' they said, the writing will be given him. The king and the three
chief men of Persia shall judge whose statement is wisest, and the award
will be made on the merits of the written statement.'
One wrote 'Wine is strongest', the second wrote 'The king is strongest',
and the third wrote 'Women are strongest, but truth conquers all'. When
the king got up he was presented with what they had written. He read it,
and summoned all the chief men of Persia and Media, satraps, commanders,
governors, and chief officers. Then he took his seat in the council chamber,
and what they had written was read out before them. He said, 'Call the
young men and let them expound their statements.' They were called and
came in. They were asked, 'Tell us about what you have written.'
The first, who spoke about the strength of wine, began. 'Sirs,' he said,
'how true it is that wine is strongest! It sends astray the wits of all who
drink it; king and orphan, slave and free, rich and poor, it has the same
effect on them all. It turns all thoughts to revelry and mirth; it brings for-
getfulness of grief and debt. It makes all feel rich, cares nothing for king or
satrap, and makes men always talk in millions. When they are in their
cups, they forget to be friendly to friends and relations, and are quick to
draw their swords; when they have recovered from their wine, they cannot
remember what they have done. Sirs, is not win the strongest, seeing that
it forces men to behave in this way?' With this he ended.
4 Then the second, the one who spoke of the strength of the king, began
his speech: 'Sirs, is not man the strongest, man who masters the earth and
the sea and all that is in them? But the strongest of men is the king; he is
their lord and master, and they obey all his commands. If he bids them
make war upon one another they do it; if he dispatches them against his
enemies, they march and level mountains and walls and towers. They kill
and are killed; they do not obey the king's order. If they are victorious
they bring everything to the king, their spoils and everything else. Or take
those who do not serve as soldiers or go to war, but work the land: they
sow and reap, and bring their produce to the king. They compel each other
to bring him their tribute. Though he is no more than one man, if he orders
them to kill, they kill; f he orders them to release, they release; he orders
them to attack and they attack, to lay waste and they lay waste, to build
and they build, to cut down and they cut down, to plant and they plant.
So all his people and his troops obey him. Besides this, while he himself
sits at table, eats and drinks, and goes to sleep, they stand in attendance
round about him and none can leave and see to his own affairs; they never
disobey him in anything. Sirs, of course the king must be strongest when
he commands such obedience!' So he stopped speaking.
The third, who spoke about women and truth——and this was Zerub-
babel——said: 'Sirs, it is true the king is great, men are many, and wine is
strong, but who rules over them? Who is the sovereign power? Women,
surely! The king and all his people who rue land and sea were born of
women, and from them they came. Women brought up the men who
planted the vineyards which yield the wine. They make the clothes for men
and they bring honour to men; men cannot do without women. If they
have amassed gold and silver and all kinds of beautiful things, and then
see a woman with a lovely face and figure, they leave all these things to gape
and stare at her with open mouth, and all choose her in preference to gold
or silver or beautiful things. A man will desert his father who brought him
up, even desert his country, and become one with his wife. He forgets
father, mother, and country and stays with his wife to the end of his days.
Here is the proof that women are your masters: do you not toil and sweat
and then bring all you earn and give it to your wives? A man will take his
sword and sally forth to plunder and rob, to sail on sea and river; he faces
lions, he travels in the dark; and when he has robbed and plundered he
brings the spoil home to his beloved.
'A man loves his wife more than his father or mother. For women's sakes
many men have been driven out of their minds, many have been sold into
slavery, many have died or come to grief or ruined their lives. Do you
believe me now? Certainly the king wields great authority; no country
dare lift a finger against him. Yet I watched him with Apame, his favourite
concubine, daughter of the famous Bartacus. She was sitting on the king's
right; she took the diadem off his head and put it on her own, and slapped
his face with her left hand; and the king only gazed at her open-mouthed.
When she laughed at him he laughed; when she was cross with him he
coaxed her to make it up. Sirs, if women do as well as this, how can their
strength be denied?' The king and the chief men looked at one another.
He then went on to speak about truth: 'Sirs, we have seen that women
are strong. The earth is vast, the sky is lofty, the sun swift in its course,
for he moves through the circle of the sky and speeds home in a single day.
How great is he who does all this! But truth too is great and stronger than
all else. The whole earth calls on truth; the sky praises her. All created
things shake and tremble; with her there is no injustice. There is injustice
in wine, in kings, in women, in all men, and in all their works, and so forth.
There is no truth in them; they shall perish in their injustice. But truth
abides and is strong for ever; she lives and rules for ever and ever. With her
there is no favouritism or partiality; she chooses to do justice rather than
what is unjust and evil. All approve her works; in her judgement there is
no injustice. Hers are strength and royalty, the authority and majesty of
all ages. Praise be to the God of truth!'
So he ended his speech, and all the people shouted and said, 'Great
is truth: truth is strongest!' Then the king said to him, 'Ask what you
will, even beyond what is in the writing, and you shall sit by me and be called
my Kinsman.'
Then he said to the king: 'Remember the vow you made on the day when
you came to the throne. You promised to rebuild Jerusalem and to send
back all the vessels taken from it which Cyrus set aside. When he vowed to
destroy Babylon he also vowed to restore these vessels; and you too made
a vow to rebuild the temple which the Edomites burnt when Judaea was
ravaged by the Chaldaeans. This is the favour that I now beg of you, my
lord king, this is the magnanimity I request: that you should perform the
vow which you made to the king of heaven.'
King Darius stood up and kissed him, and wrote letters for him to all
the treasurers, governors, commanders, and satraps instructing them to
give safe conduct to him and to all those who were going up with him to
rebuild Jerusalem. To all the governors in Coele-syria and Phoenicia and
in Lebanon he wrote letters ordering them to transport cedar-wood from
Lebanon to Jerusalem and join with Zerubbabel in building the city. He
gave all Jews going up from the kingdom to Judaea letters assuring their
liberties: that no officer, satrap, governor, or treasurer should interfere
with them, that all land which they should acquire should be immune
fro taxation, and that the Edomites should surrender the villages they
had seized from the Jews. Each year twenty talents were to be contributed
to the building of the temple until it was finished, ad a further ten talents
annually for burnt-offerings to be sacrificed daily upon the altar in ac-
cordance with their law. All those who were going from Babylonia to build
the city were to enjoy freedom, and their descendants after them. He gave
written orders that all the priests going there should also receve main-
tenance and the vestments in which they would officiate; that the Levites too
should receive maintenance, until the day when the building of the temple
and Jerusalem was completed; and that all who guarded the city should be
given land and pay. He sent back all the vessels from Babylon which Cyrus
had set aside. All that Cyrus had commanded, he affirmed, odering
weverything to be restored to Jerusalem.
When the young man, Zerubbabel, went out, he turned his face toward
Jerusalem, looked up to heaven, and praised the King of heaven. 'From
thee comes victory,' he said, 'from thee comes wisdom; thine is the glory
and I am thy servant. All praise to thee who hast given me wisdom; to thee
I give thanks, O Lord of our fathers.'
He took the letters and set off for Babylon, where he told his fellow-Jews.
They praised the God of their fathers because he had given them full free-
dom to go and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple called by his name, and
they feasted for a week with music and rejoicing.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Jul 23, 2019, 12:52 PM UTC
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