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¹ Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,² The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,³ The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,⁴ The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,⁵ The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:⁶ This Ezra went from Babylon; and he [was] a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.⁷ And there went [some] of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.⁸ And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which [was] in the seventh year of the king.⁹ For upon the first [day] of the first month he began to go from Babylon, and on the first [day] of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.¹⁰ For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do [it], and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

¹¹ Now this [is] the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, [even] a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.¹² Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect [peace], and at such a time.¹³ I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and [of] his priests and Levites, in my realm, who are disposed of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with thee.¹⁴ Forasmuch as thou art sent by the king, and by his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which [is] in thy hand;¹⁵ And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation [is] in Jerusalem,¹⁶ And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the free-will-offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which [is] in Jerusalem:¹⁷ That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat-offerings and their drink-offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which [is] in Jerusalem.¹⁸ And whatever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and gold, that do after the will of your God.¹⁹ The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, [those] deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem.²⁰ And whatever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow [it] out of the king's treasure-house.²¹ And I, [even] I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers who [are] beyond the river, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,²² To a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing [how much].²³ Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?²⁴ Also we certify you, that concerning any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom upon them.²⁵ And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that [is] in thy hand, set magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people that [are] beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know [them] not.²⁶ And whoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether [it be] to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.

²⁷ Blessed [be] the LORD God of our fathers, who hath put [such a thing] as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which [is] in Jerusalem:²⁸ And hath extended mercy to me before the king, and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God [was] upon me, and I assembled out of Israel chief men to go up with me.