1 In the first year of King Cyrus+ of Persia, in order that Jehovah’s word spoken by Jeremiah+ would be fulfilled, Jehovah stirred the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his kingdom, which he also put in writing,+ saying:

3 Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of Jehovah the God of Israel—he is the true God—whose house was in Jerusalem.*

12 He will raise up a signal* for the nations and gather the dispersed ones of Israel,+ and he will gather together the scattered ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth.+

22 This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: