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silver to the quarrymen and to the carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant of Cyrus king of the Persians to them. And in the second year of their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites and all who came from the 293 captivity to Jerusalem began, and they appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward to preside over those who were doing the work in the house of the Lord. And Jeshua stood with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons and the sons of Judah together, to preside over those who were doing the work in the house of God, the sons of Henadad and their sons and their brothers the Levites. And they laid the foundation to build the house of the Lord, that is, in the third year of Cyrus they laid the foundation of the house of the Lord, but in the second year of their going up, at which time they also appointed, as the second book of Esdras says following these things, the priests arrayed with trumpets and the sons of Asaph with cymbals, and many with them of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers' houses, the elders, who, it says, had seen the first house at its foundation and this house before their eyes, were weeping with a loud voice, and a crowd with a shout of joy to raise their voice. And the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the people's weeping, because the people shouted with a great shout. And the sound was heard even from afar. And the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard; and the rest concerning the things written by Mithridates to Artaxerxes and those with him in Syriac, clearly in the same third year of Cyrus, to make those who were building the temple cease. But Artaxerxes and Artaxerxes must be supposed to be one and the same, being called so in Persian, but Cyrus being so called in Greek, the one who both proclaimed release for them in his first year and ordered the rebuilding of the temple and of the city and of the sacred vessels, 5400 gold and silver, which were numbered by Sheshbazzar after the return from the captivity, from Mithridates the Gazarene, the treasurer of Cyrus, as it is written, and who again, because of the slander of those who wrote to him, stopped the Jews from building until the second year of Darius Hystaspes; so that from these things it is clearly shown that for 41 years the foundations remained laid, and from the second year of Darius until the sixth it was completed by the hands of the same Zerubbabel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak in 46 whole years from the first year of Cyrus. wherefore it was also said by the Jews, “This temple was built in 46 years, and you will raise it in three days?” to the Lord in the Gospel according to John. 294 In this second year of Darius on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, Shabbath, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying: I saw in the night, and behold a man riding on a red horse; and he stood between the two shady mountains, and behind him were red and sorrel and dappled and white horses. And I said, What are these, lord? And the angel who spoke in me said to me, I will show you what these are. And the man who stood between the two mountains answered and said to me, These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord who stood between the mountains and said, We have patrolled all the earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited and is at rest. And the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord Almighty, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which you have overlooked this seventieth year? These things are reported in the prophet Zechariah in the second year of Darius as being said by the angel who spoke to him to the Lord, whether in the manner of a prayer or for the sake of some other personification, the unsearchable God having ordained it by his judgments, at least as far as we

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ἀργύριον τοῖς λατόμοις καὶ τοῖς τέκτοσι καὶ βρώματα καὶ ποτὰ καὶ ἔλαιον τοῖς Σιδωνίοις καὶ Τυρίοις, ἐνέγκαι ξύλα κέδρινα ἀπὸ τοῦ Λιβάνου πρὸς θάλασσαν Ἰόππης κατ' ἐπιχορήγησιν Κύρου βασιλέως Περσῶν ἐπ' αὐτούς. καὶ ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῷ βʹ τοῦ ἐλθεῖν αὐτοὺς εἰς οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἐν μηνὶ τῷ βʹ ἤρξατο Ζορο βάβελ ὁ τοῦ Σαλαθιὴλ καὶ Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ἰωσεδὲκ καὶ οἱ κατάλοιποι τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτῶν οἱ ἱερεῖς καὶ οἱ Λευῖται καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐρχόμενοι ἀπὸ τῆς 293 αἰχμαλωσίας εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ ἔστησαν τοὺς Λευίτας ἀπὸ υἱοῦ εἰκοσαετοῦς καὶ ἐπάνω τοῦ νικοποιεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς ποιοῦντας τὰ ἔργα ἐν οἴκῳ κυρίου. καὶ ἔστη Ἰησοῦς καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ Καδμιὴλ καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰούδα ὁμοῦ τοῦ νικοποιεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς ποιοῦντας τὰ ἔργα ἐν οἴκῳ τοῦ θεοῦ, οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰωναδὰδ καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῶν οἱ Λευῖται. καὶ ἐθεμελίωσαν τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι τὸν οἶκον κυρίου, δηλαδὴ τῷ ἔτει τῷ γʹ Κύρου ἐθεμελίωσαν τὸν οἶκον κυρίου, δευτέρῳ δὲ τῆς ἀναβάσεως αὐτῶν, ἡνίκα καὶ ἔστησαν, ὥς φησι τὰ ἀκόλουθα τούτοις ἡ δευτέρα τοῦ Ἔσδρα βίβλος, οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐστολισμένοι ἐν σάλπιγξι καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Ἀσὰφ ἐν κυμβάλοις, καὶ πολλοὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῶν ἱερέων καὶ Λευιτῶν καὶ ἄρχοντες πατριῶν πρεσβύτεροι, οἵ, φησίν, εἶδον τὸν οἶκον τὸν πρῶτον ἐν θεμελιώσει αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦτον τὸν οἶκον ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτῶν, ἔκλαιον ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, καὶ ὄχλος ἐν σημασίᾳ μετ' εὐ φροσύνης τοῦ ὑψῶσαι φωνήν. καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ λαὸς ἐπιγινώσκων φωνὴν σημασίας τῆς εὐφροσύνης ἀπὸ τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ κλαυθμοῦ τοῦ λαοῦ, ὅτι ὁ λαὸς ἐκραύγασε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ. καὶ ἡ φωνὴ ἠκούετο ἕως ἀπὸ μακρόθεν. Καὶ ἤκουσαν οἱ θλίβοντες Ἰούδαν καὶ Βενιαμίν· καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ περὶ τῶν γεγραμμένων τῷ Μιθριδάτῃ πρὸς Ἀρθασασθὰ καὶ τοῖς σὺν αὐτῷ Συριστί, κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ δηλονότι ἔτος γʹ Κύρου, τοῦ παύσασθαι τοὺς οἰκοδομοῦντας τὸν ναόν. Ἀρθασασθὰ δὲ καὶ Ἀρταξέρξην ἕνα τὸν αὐτὸν ὑποληπτέον Περσικῶς καλούμενον, Κῦρον δὲ Ἑλληνιστὶ λεγόμενον, τὸν καὶ τὴν ἄφεσιν αὐτοῖς πρώτῳ ἔτει αὐτοῦ προσφωνήσαντα καὶ τὴν ἀνοικοδομὴν προστάξαντα τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὴν τῶν ἱερῶν σκευῶν ευʹ χρυσῶν τε καὶ ἀργυρῶν, διὰ Σαλμανασὰρ μετὰ τὴν τῆς ἀποικίας ἀνάβασιν ἀριθμηθέντων αὐτῶν ἀπὸ Μιθριδάτου Γασβαρηνοῦ γαζοφύλακος Κύρου, ὡς γέγραπται, καὶ αὖθις ἐκ διαβολῆς τῶν γραψάντων αὐτῷ παύσαντα τοὺς Ἰουδαίους οἰκοδομεῖν ἕως τοῦ βʹ ἔτους ∆αρείου τοῦ Ὑστάσπου· ὡς ἐκ τούτων σαφῶς παρίστασθαι ὅτι ἐπὶ ἔτη μʹ καὶ αʹ ἔμεινε τὰ θεμέλια ὑποβεβλημένα, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ βʹ ἔτους ∆αρείου ἕως ςʹ ἀνεπληρώθη διὰ χειρῶν τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ζοροβάβελ καὶ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Ἰωσεδὲκ ἐν μςʹ ἔτεσιν ὅλοις ἀπὸ τοῦ αʹ ἔτους Κύρου. διὸ καὶ εἴρηται παρὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὅτι «μςʹ ἔτεσιν ᾠκοδομήθη ὁ ναὸς οὗτος, καὶ σὺ ἐν γʹ ἡμέραις ἐγείρεις αὐ τόν;» πρὸς τὸν κύριον ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην εὐαγγελίῳ. 294 Τούτῳ τῷ βʹ ἔτει ∆αρείου τῇ τετάρτῃ καὶ εἰκάδι τοῦ ιαʹ μηνὸς σαββάτου ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρὸς Ζαχαρίαν τὸν τοῦ Βαραχίου υἱὸν Ἀδδὼ τὸν προφήτην λέγων· ἑώρακα τὴν νύκτα, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐφ' ἵππον πυρρόν· καὶ οὗτος εἱστήκει ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν βʹ ὀρέων τῶν κατασκίων, καὶ ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ ἵπποι πυρροὶ καὶ ψαροὶ καὶ ποικίλοι καὶ λευκοί. καὶ εἶπα· τί οὗτοι, κύριε; καὶ εἶπε πρός με ὁ ἄγγελος ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοί· ἐγὼ δείξω σοι τί ἐστι ταῦτα. καὶ ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ἐφεστηκὼς ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν βʹ ὀρέων καὶ εἶπε πρός με· οὗτοί εἰσιν οὓς ἐξαπέσταλκε κύριος τοῦ περιοδεῦ σαι τὴν γῆν. καὶ ἀπεκρίθησαν τῷ ἀγγέλῳ κυρίου τῷ ἐφεστῶτι ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ὀρέων καὶ εἶπαν· περιωδεύσαμεν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἰδοὺ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ κατοικεῖται καὶ ἡσυχάζει. καὶ ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ἄγγελος κυρίου καὶ εἶπε· κύριε παντοκράτορ, ἕως τίνος οὐ μὴ ἐλεήσῃς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὰς πόλεις Ἰούδα, ἃς ὑπερεῖδες τοῦτο τὸ οʹ ἔτος; Ταῦτα ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ Ζαχαρίᾳ φέρεται κατὰ τὸ βʹ ἔτος ∆αρείου ὡς ἐκ τοῦ λαλοῦντος πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγγέλου πρὸς κύριον λεγόμενα, εἴτε τρόπῳ εὐχῆς εἴτε ἄλλης τινὸς προσωποποιίας χάριν οἰκονομήσαντος τοῦ ἀνεξ ερευνήτου θεοῦ τοῖς κρίμασιν, ὅσον δέ γε ἡμᾶς