² “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed^(D) me to build^(E) a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. ³ Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. ⁴ And in any locality where survivors^(F) may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold,^(G) with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings^(H) for the temple of God^(I) in Jerusalem.’”^(J)

⁹ We questioned the elders and asked them, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?”^(A)

¹³ “However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree^(A) to rebuild this house of God.

³ In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:

Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid.^(A) It is to be sixty cubits^[a] high and sixty cubits wide,