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[59]
So the king was pleased with what he had said, and arose and kissed
him; and wrote to the toparchs and governors, and enjoined them to conduct
Zorobabel and those that were going with him to build the temple. He also
sent letters to those rulers that were in Syria and Phoenicia to cut down
and carry cedar trees from Lebanon to Jerusalem, and to assist him in building
the city. He also wrote to them, that all the captives who should go to
Judea should be free; and he prohibited his deputies and governors to lay
any king's taxes upon the Jews; he also permitted that they should have
all that land which they could possess themselves of without tributes.
He also enjoined the Idumeans and Samaritans, and the inhabitants of Celesyria,
to restore those villages which they had taken from the Jews; and that,
besides all this, fifty talents should be given them for the building of
the temple. He also permitted them to offer their appointed sacrifices,
and that whatsoever the high priest and the priests wanted, and those sacred
garments wherein they used to worship God, should be made at his own charges;
.and that the musical instruments which the Levites used in singing hymns
to God should be given them. Moreover, he charged them, that portions of
land should be given to those that guarded the city and the temple, as
also a determinate sum of money every year for their maintenance; and withal
he sent the vessels. And all that Cyrus intended to do before him relating
to the restoration of Jerusalem, Darius also ordained should be done accordingly.
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