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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Ezra 5 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ezra/5.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ezra/5-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Ezra 5</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ezra/4.htm" title="Ezra 4">◄</a> Ezra 5 <a href="../ezra/6.htm" title="Ezra 6">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><p class="nb"><span class="v15_5_1"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.1" class="v15_5_1">1</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.1!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Then the <span class="nd">Lord</span> God of Israel told the prophets Haggai and Zechariah<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.1!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> to speak in his name to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. And they did. </span><span class="v15_5_2"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.2" class="v15_5_2">2</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.2!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> So Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the priest urged the people to start working on the temple again, and God's prophets encouraged them.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v15_5_3"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.3" class="v15_5_3">3</span>Governor Tattenai of Western Province and his assistant Shethar Bozenai got together with some of their officials. Then they went to Jerusalem and said to the people, “Who told you to rebuild this temple? </span><span class="v15_5_4"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.4" class="v15_5_4">4</span>Give us the names of the workers!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v15_5_5"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.5" class="v15_5_5">5</span>But God was looking after the Jewish leaders. So the governor and his group decided not to make the people stop working on the temple until they could report to Darius and get his advice.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v15_5_6"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.6" class="v15_5_6">6</span>Governor Tattenai, Shethar Bozenai, and their advisors sent a report to Darius, </span><span class="v15_5_7"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.7" class="v15_5_7">7</span>which said:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_7">King Darius, we wish you the best! </span><span class="v15_5_8"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.8" class="v15_5_8">8</span>We went to Judah, where the temple of the great God is being built with huge stones and wooden beams set in the walls. Everyone is working hard, and the building is going up quickly.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_9"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.9" class="v15_5_9">9</span>We asked those in charge to tell us who gave them permission to rebuild the temple. </span><span class="v15_5_10"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.10" class="v15_5_10">10</span>We also asked for the names of their leaders, so that we could write them down for you.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_11"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.11" class="v15_5_11">11</span>They claimed to be servants of the God who rules heaven and earth. And they said they were rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago by one of Israel's greatest kings.<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.11!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_12"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.12" class="v15_5_12">12</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.12!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> We were told that their people had made God angry, and he let them be captured by Nebuchadnezzar,<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.12!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> the Babylonian king<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.12!f.3" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> who took them away as captives to Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar tore down their temple, </span><span class="v15_5_13"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.13-Ezra.5.15" class="v15_5_13">13-15</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.13-Ezra.5.15!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> took its gold and silver articles, and put them in the temple of his own god in Babylon.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_13">They also said that during the first year Cyrus was king of Babylonia,<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.13-Ezra.5.15!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> he gave orders for God's temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem where it had stood before. So Cyrus appointed Sheshbazzar governor of Judah and sent these gold and silver articles for him to put in the temple. </span><span class="v15_5_16"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.16" class="v15_5_16">16</span>Sheshbazzar then went to Jerusalem and laid the foundation for the temple, and the work is still going on.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_17"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.17" class="v15_5_17">17</span>Your Majesty, please order someone to look up the old records in Babylonia and find out if King Cyrus really did give orders to rebuild God's temple in Jerusalem. We will do whatever you think we should.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.1 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Zechariah: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Aramaic “Zechariah son of Iddo.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.11 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">one of Israel's greatest kings: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Solomon (ruled from about 970 to 931 <char style="sc">b.c.</char>).</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.12 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Nebuchadnezzar: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 1.7.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.12 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">the Babylonian king: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Aramaic “the Babylonian king from Chaldea,” but Chaldea is another name for Babylonia.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.13-15 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Cyrus was king of Babylonia: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">King Cyrus of Persia became king of Babylonia when the Persians conquered the city of Babylon in 539 <char style="sc">b.c.</char></char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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