⁵⁶ And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.^(A)’”

⁴ for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods,^(A) and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy^(B) you.

¹³ then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out^(A) these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares^(B) and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes,^(C) until you perish from this good land,^(D) which the Lord your God has given you.

³ And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you;^(A) they will become traps^(B) for you, and their gods will become snares^(C) to you.’”

⁵ The Israelites lived^(A) among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,^(B) Hivites and Jebusites.^{(C) 6} They took their daughters^(D) in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.^(E)

Othniel

⁷ The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord^(F) their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.^{(G) 8} The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold^(H) them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim^(I) king of Aram Naharaim,^[a](J) to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return^(A)

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,^(B) the Lord moved the heart^(C) of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

⁵ Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin,^(K) and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved^(L)—prepared to go up and build the house^(M) of the Lord in Jerusalem. ⁶ All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold,^(N) with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

⁷ Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.^{[a](O) 8} Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar^(P) the prince of Judah.

⁹ This was the inventory:

¹¹ In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.