They spoke evil things against the God of heaven. They did this because of their pains and their sores. But they refused to turn away from the sins they had committed.
“Cyrus, the king of Persia, says, “ ‘The Lord is the God of heaven. He has given me all the kingdoms on earth. He has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem. And may the Lord their God be with them.’ ”
“Cyrus, the king of Persia, says, “ ‘The Lord is the God of heaven. He has given me all the kingdoms on earth. He has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.
Give them those things so they can offer sacrifices that please the God of heaven. And I want them to pray that things will go well for me and my sons.
I, Artaxerxes, am writing this letter. I am the greatest king of all. I have given it to Ezra the priest. He is the teacher of the Law of the God of heaven. I give you my greetings.
I, King Artaxerxes, also give this order. It applies to all those who are in charge of the treasures west of the Euphrates River. Make sure you provide anything Ezra the priest might ask you to give. He is the teacher of the Law of the God of heaven.
“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom. It will never be destroyed. And no other nation will ever take it over. It will crush all those other kingdoms. It will bring them to an end. But it will last forever.
At that same time there was a powerful earthquake. A tenth of the city crumbled and fell. In the earthquake, 7,000 people were killed. Those who lived through it were terrified. They gave glory to the God of heaven.
The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land. Ugly and painful sores broke out on people. Those people had the mark of the beast and worshiped its statue.
Huge hailstones weighing about 100 pounds each fell from the sky. The hail crushed people. And they spoke evil things against God because of the plague. That’s because the plague of hail was so terrible.
They were burned by the blazing heat. So they spoke evil things against the name of God, who controlled these plagues. But they refused to turn away from their sins. They did not give glory to God.