Tuesday in Epiphany

1Verse 1. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows: 2Verse 2. “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3Verse 3. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4Verse 4. And let every survivor, wherever he lives, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.’” 5Verse 5. So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites— everyone whose spirit God had stirred— prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. 6Verse 6. And all their neighbors supported them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuables, in addition to all their freewill offerings. 7Verse 7. King Cyrus also brought out the articles belonging to the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the temple of his gods. 8Verse 8. Cyrus king of Persia had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9Verse 9. This was the inventory: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 silver utensils, 10Verse 10. 30 gold bowls, 410 matching silver bowls, and 1,000 other articles. 11Verse 11. In all, there were 5,400 gold and silver articles. Sheshbazzar brought all these along when the exiles went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

12Verse 12. For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God — not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God. 13Verse 13. For we do not write you anything that is beyond your ability to read and understand. And I hope that you will understand us completely, 14Verse 14. as you have already understood us in part, that you may boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of our Lord Jesus. 15Verse 15. Confident of this, I planned to visit you first, so that you might receive a double blessing. 16Verse 16. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to return to you from Macedonia, and then to have you help me on my way to Judea. 17Verse 17. When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” and also “No, no”? 18Verse 18. But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19Verse 19. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.”