The sum of the numbers as they stand in the present Hebrew text is 2,499, instead of 5,400. In the Apocryphal Book of Esdras, the sum given is 5,46…

Immediate result of the decree.

(5) With all them whose spirit God had raised. — Namely, all is the more …

All the vessels of gold, and of silver, were five thousand and
four hundred
Those tha…

The same God who raised up the spirit of Cyrus to proclaim liberty to the Jews also raised up their spirits to accept it. For some, the temptation …