A sound of war, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans!

They shall come upon you, and you shall not know it, O Babylon, that you will even be taken captive. You are found and taken, because you resisted the Lord.

For her times have come. Open her storehouses; search her as a cave, and utterly destroy her; let there be no remnant of her.

A voice of men fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon, to declare to Zion the vengeance [that comes] from the Lord our God.

Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her warriors shall be cast down, says the Lord.

And your pride shall fail, and fall, and there shall be no one to set it up again. And I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all things round about her.

But their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is His name. He will enter into judgment with His adversaries, that He may destroy the earth;

A sword upon her warriors, and they shall be weakened. A sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots.

and they shall be ashamed; for it is a land of graven [images]; and in the islands, where they boasted.

As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities bordering upon them, says the Lord: no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn there.

[The people] are fierce, and will have no mercy; their voices shall sound as the sea, they shall ride upon horses, prepared for war, like fire, against you, O daughter of Babylon.

Behold, he shall come up as a lion from Jordan to Gaethan; for I will speedily drive them from her, and I will set all the youths against her; for who is like Me? And who will resist Me? And who is this shepherd who will stand before Me?

Or at the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth shall quake, and a cry shall be heard among the nations.

And by you I will scatter the horse and his rider; and by you I will scatter chariots and them that ride in them.

And by you I will scatter the shepherd and his flock; and by you I will scatter the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and by you I will scatter leaders and the captains.

These have one purpose, and they will give their power and authority to the Beast.

Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.

For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the Beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

Thus said Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has given me a command to build Him a house in Jerusalem that is in Judea.

And [let] every [Jew] that is left [go] from every place where he sojourns, and the men of his place shall help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, together with the voluntary offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

And all that were round about strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with livestock, and with presents, besides the voluntary offerings.

And Cyrus king of the Persians brought them out by the hand of Mithradath the treasurer, and he numbered them to Sheshbazzar, the chief man of Judah.

four hundred and ten double silver [vessels], and a thousand other vessels.

And there was found in the city, in the palace, a volume, and this was the record written in it:

And [let there be] three strong layers of stone, and one layer of timber; and the expense shall be paid out of the house of the king.

Now, you rulers beyond the river, Shethar-Boznai, and their fellow servants the Apharsachaeans, who [are] on the other side of the river, give [these things], keeping far from that place.

Also a decree has been made by me, if haply you may do somewhat in concert with the elders of the Jews for the building of that house of God: to wit, out of the king's property, [even] the tributes beyond the river, let there be money to defray the expenses carefully granted to those men, so that they be not hindered.

that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and that they may pray for the life of the king and his sons.

And may the God whose name dwells there, overthrow every king and people who shall stretch out his hand to alter or destroy the house of God which is in Jerusalem. I, Darius have made a decree; let it be diligently [attended to].

And the elders of the Jews and the Levites built, at the prophecy of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo; and they built up, and finished [it], by the decree of the God of Israel, and by the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of the Persians.

And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity kept the dedication of the house of God with gladness.

And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their separate orders, for the services of God in Jerusalem, according to the writing of the Book of Moses

For the priests and Levites were purified, all were clean to a man, and they slaughtered the Passover [lambs] for all the children of the captivity, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.

And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with gladness, because the Lord made them glad, and He turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the works of the house of the God of Israel.

A decree is made by me, that everyone who is willing in my kingdom of the people of Israel, and of the priests and Levites, to go to Jerusalem, [be permitted] to go with you.

And for the house of the Lord [there has been sent] silver and gold, which the king and the counselors have freely given to the God of Israel, who dwells in Jerusalem.

And as for everyone that arrives [there], speedily order him by this letter [to bring] calves, rams, lambs, and their grain offerings, and their drink offerings; and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.

And deliver the vessels that are given to you for the service of the house of God, before God in Jerusalem.

and from me, whatever seems [good] to you to give. I, King Artaxerxes have made a decree for all the treasuries that are in the [country] beyond the river, that whatever Ezra the priest and scribe of the God of heaven may require of you, let it be done diligently,

Let whatever is in the decree of the God of heaven be done. Take heed lest anyone make an attack against the house of the God of heaven, lest at any time there shall be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons.

And you, Ezra, as the wisdom of God [is] in your hand, appoint scribes and judges, that they may judge for all the people beyond the river, all that know the law of the Lord your God; and you shall make it known to him that knows not.

The high praises of God shall be in their mouth, and two-edged swords in their hands;

to bind their kings with fetters, and their nobles with manacles of iron;

Because her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

In as many things as she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give to her torment and sorrow; because she says in her heart, 'I sit as queen, and am not a widow, and I shall by no means see sorrow.'

Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus with violence Babylon the great city shall be cast down, and shall by no means be found anymore.

And the light of a lamp shall by no means shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and of a bride shall by no means be heard in you anymore. Your merchants were the magnates of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.

For true and righteous are His judgments, for He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged the blood of His servants [shed] by her hand."

And the twenty-four elders and the four living beings fell down and worshipped God who sits on the throne, saying, "Amen! Hallelujah!"

And I heard, as [it were], the voice of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty thunders, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty has begun to reign!