²³ Cyrus, king of Persia, has said, All the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the Lord, the God of heaven; and he has made me responsible for building a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him and let him go up.

¹⁶ In gold and silver and brass and iron more than may be numbered. Up! then, and to work; and may the Lord be with you.

⁶ And I said to him, Where are you going? And he said to me, To take the measure of Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.

⁷ And the angel who was talking to me went out, and another angel went out, and, meeting him,

²³ But you have been lifting yourself up against the Lord of heaven, and they have put the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your women, have taken wine in them; and you have given praise to gods of silver and gold, of brass and iron and wood and stone, who are without the power of seeing or hearing, and without knowledge: and to the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not given glory;

¹⁸ As for you, O King, the Most High God gave to Nebuchadnezzar, your father, the kingdom and great power and glory and honour:

³⁵ And all the people of the earth are as nothing: he does his pleasure in the army of heaven and among the people of the earth: and no one is able to keep back his hand, or say to him, What are you doing?

³⁷ You, O King, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory,

²¹ By him times and years are changed: by him kings are taken away and kings are lifted up: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those whose minds are awake:

²⁶ Who makes the word of his servants certain, and gives effect to the purposes of his representatives; who says of Jerusalem, Her people will come back to her; and of the towns of Judah, I will give orders for their building, and will make her waste places fertile again:

²⁷ Who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will make your rivers dry:

²⁸ Who says of Cyrus, He will take care of my sheep, and will do all my pleasure: who says of Jerusalem, I will give the word for your building; and of the Temple, Your bases will be put in place.

⁵ Let not your horn be lifted up: let no more words of pride come from your outstretched necks.

⁶ For honour does not come from the east, or from the west, or uplifting from the south;

⁷ But God is the judge, putting down one, and lifting up another.

¹³ And now it is my order that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and Levites in my kingdom, who are ready and have a desire to go to Jerusalem, are to go with you.

⁵ Gold for the gold things, and silver for the silver things, and for every sort of work to be done by the expert workmen. Who then will come forward, offering himself this day for the Lord's work?

³¹ What may we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?