Ezra

1.  In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord moves upon his heart to help the Israelite exiles return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple -- Cyrus also returned thousands of gold and silver articles which belonged to the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had taken
2.  Over 49,000 people returned to Jerusalem and Judah -- The people gave gold, silver and priestly garments to rebuild the temple and its use
3. After the people had settled in their own towns, they came to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding the temple -- The altar was rebuilt and sacrifices began to be offered to the Lord -- Then the temple itself was rebuilt -- When the foundation was laid, the people rejoiced and praised the Lord with joy and thanksgiving
4.  Opposition to the rebuilding of the temple develops -- At first the enemies of Judah and Benjamin tried to help in the rebuilding process, but were refused because they were not part of the Israelites -- Then they hired people to frustrate the plans of the Israelites all during the rebuilding process during the reign of Cyrus and on to the reign of Darius -- During the reign of Xerxes, they lodged a formal accusation against the Israelites via a letter to the king --  Xerxes had a search of the historical records made, then issued a decree that the work on the temple be stopped -- So the work on the temple was at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia.
5.  At that time, work was resumed on the temple, so their enemies sent another letter to Darius to see whether what the Israelite leaders had said about Cyrus issuing a decree to rebuild the temple was true
6.  A search of the records was made, and found that Cyrus had, in fact, issued such an order -- Darius decreed that not only were the Israelites to be allowed to continue with the rebuilding, but that the opposing officials were to pay the expenses of the work and supply the animals, grain, salt, wine and oil for the sacrifices -- These orders were issued with the penalty of death and destruction of the house of any who would oppose the decree -- So the temple was completed in the 6th year of Darius and was dedicated with many offerings, and the priests and Levites were installed for their service to the Lord -- The Passover was celebrated with joy
7,  Ezra, a descendent of Aaron, was allowed by king Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem to teach the people the Law of God -- Ezra was also given silver and gold, with instructions for the leaders of the area to assist the Israelites in providing for their sacrifices -- Other leading men were allowed to return to Jerusalem with Ezra
8.  The family heads who returned with Ezra listed -- In addition, Ezra selected others to accompany him to Jerusalem -- On their safe arrival in Jerusalem, burnt offerings were made to the Lord -- Ezra delivered the king's orders
9.  When Ezra was told that the Israelites (even the priests and Levites) had not kept themselves separate, but had intermarried with many other nations, he was appalled and tore his robe in shame -- His prayer about the intermarriage with foreign wives that had occured
10.  The people confess their sin of disobedience by their intermarriage with nations surrounding them -- All the exiles were commanded to come to Jerusualem -- Ezra speaks to them about God's command to be a people separated from the nations around them -- It was proposed to them that they separate from the foreign wives and their children -- With little opposition, the men agreed to do this, so the fierce anger of God would be turned from them -- The men who had married foreign wives listed