Ezra 7

¹ After these events, during the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,

² son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,

³ son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth,

⁴ son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki,

⁵ son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest.

⁶ This Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king granted him everything he asked, because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.

⁷ Some of the Israelites, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

⁸ He arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the king’s seventh year.

⁹ For he had begun the journey up from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, because the good hand of his God was upon him.

¹⁰ For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach decree and ordinance in Israel.

¹¹ This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe—a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD and his decrees concerning Israel.

¹² “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe fully versed in the law of the God of heaven. And now:

¹³ I issue this order: anyone among the people of Israel, their priests, or Levites in my kingdom who is willing to go to Jerusalem may go with you.

¹⁴ For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to investigate Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your hand.”

¹⁵ “You are also to take the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,

¹⁶ along with all the silver and gold you find throughout the province of Babylon, and the freewill offering of the people and priests, given willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Therefore, with this money, be sure to buy bulls, rams, and lambs, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and present them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ As for whatever you and your fellow Israelites think best to do with the rest of the silver and gold, do it according to the will of your God.

¹⁹ The vessels given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver them before the God of Jerusalem.

²⁰ Whatever else is needed for the house of your God, which it falls to you to provide, you may provide from the royal treasury.

²¹ I, King Artaxerxes, issue this order to all the treasurers in Beyond the River: whatever Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of the God of heaven, asks of you must be done promptly,

²² up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of oil, and salt without limit.

²³ Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven must be done diligently for the house of the God of heaven, so that wrath may not come against the king’s kingdom and his sons.

²⁴ We also inform you that no tax, tribute, or toll may be imposed on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

²⁵ And you, Ezra, in keeping with the wisdom of your God, which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges to judge all the people in Beyond the River—all who know the laws of your God. Teach those who do not know them.

²⁶ Whoever does not obey the law of your God and the law of the king must promptly receive the sentence: death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.”

²⁷ Blessed be the LORD, the God of our ancestors, who put such a purpose in the king’s heart: to honor the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

²⁸ He showed me loyal love before the king, his counselors, and all the king’s mighty officials. I took courage, because the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

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