Ezra 6:3-12

3In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits ▼

▼A  cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

and its breadth sixty cubits, 4 ^bwith three layers of great stones and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. 5And also ^clet the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God.”

6“Now therefore, ^dTattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, ^eand your ▼

▼Aramaic their

associates the governors who are in the province Beyond the River, keep away. 7Let the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. 8Moreover, ^gI make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God. The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from Beyond the River. 9And whatever is needed—bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require—let that be given to them day by day without fail, 10that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven ^hand pray for the life of the king and his sons. 11Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and ⁱhis house shall be made a dunghill. 12May the God ^jwho has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.”

Ezra 7:12-28

12“Artaxerxes, ^kking of kings, to Ezra the priest, the ^lscribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace. ▼

▼Aramaic Perfect (probably a greeting)

ⁿAnd now 13 ^oI make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. 14For you are sent by the king ^pand his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand, 15and also to carry the silver and gold that the king ^qand his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, ^rwhose dwelling is in Jerusalem, 16 ^swith all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and ^twith the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem. 17With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and ^uyou shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem. 18Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God. 19The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. 20And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which it falls to you to provide, you may provide it out of the king’s treasury.

21“And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence, 22up to 100 talents ▼

▼A  talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms

of silver, 100 cors ▼

▼A  cor was about 6 bushels or 220 liters

of wheat, 100 baths ▼

▼A  bath was about 6 gallons or 22 liters

of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. 23Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. 24We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose ^ytribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

25“And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, ^zappoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. ^aaAnd those who do not know them, you shall teach. 26Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.”

27 ^abBlessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, ^acwho put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, 28 ^adand who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

Nehemiah 2:7-9

7And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me ^aeto the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 8and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^afthe fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, ^agfor the good hand of my God was upon me.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls

9Then I came to ^ahthe governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

Isaiah 49:23

23 ^aiKings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
^ajWith their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and ^aklick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
^althose who wait for me ^amshall not be put to shame.”

Isaiah 60:3

3 ^anAnd nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Revelation of John 21:24

24By its light ^aowill the nations walk, and the kings of the earth ^apwill bring their glory into it,

Revelation of John 21:26

26They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.