is the God), which is in Jerusalem. 4. And whosoever remaineth in any
place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with
silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the
freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. 5. Then
rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the
priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised,
to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. 6. And
all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of
silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious
things, besides all that was willingly offered. 7. Also Cyrus the king
brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which
Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in
the house of his gods; 8. Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring
forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto
Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9. And this is the number of them:
thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and
twenty knives, 10. Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second
sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. 11. All the
vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All
these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were
brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.'--EZRA i. 1-11.


Cyrus captured Babylon 538 B.C., and the 'first year' here is the
first after that event. The predicted seventy years' captivity had
nearly run out, having in part done their work on the exiles. Colours
burned in on china are permanent; and the furnace of bondage had, at
least, effected this, that it fixed monotheism for ever in the inmost
substance of the Jewish people. But the bulk of them seem to have had
little of either religious or patriotic enthusiasm, and preferred