1. Then king Darius instructed, and they searched in the library of books that were deposited in Babylon.
2. And there was found at Ecbatana, which is a fortified place in the province of Media, one volume, and this record was written in it:
3. "In the first year of king Cyrus, Cyrus the king decreed that the house of God, which is in Jerusalem, shall be built in the place where they immolate victims, and that they should set the foundations so as to support a height of sixty cubits and a width of sixty cubits,
4. with three rows of rough stones, and so as to have rows of new timber, and that the expenses shall be given from the house of the king.
5. But also, let the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple of Jerusalem, and which he carried away to Babylon, be restored and be carried back to the temple of Jerusalem, to their place, just as they had been placed in the temple of God.
6. Now therefore, let Tattenai, the governor of the region which is beyond the river, Shetharbozenai, and your counselors, the rulers who are beyond the river, withdraw far away from them,
7. and let this temple of God be released to the governor of the Jews and to their elders, so that they may build that house of God in its place.