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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,
02 The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son
of Ahitub,
03 The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the
son of Meraioth,
04 The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son
of Bukki,
05 The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the
son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief
priest:
06 This Ezra went up 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.
07 And there went up some of the children of
Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and
the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims,
unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes
the king.
08 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month,
which was in the seventh year of the king.
09 For upon the first day of the first month
began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first
day of the fifth month came he 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 unto 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, unto 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, which are minded of their own freewill to
go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
14 Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of
his seven counsellors, to enquire concerning
Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy
God which is in thine hand;
15 And to carry the silver and gold, which the
king and his counsellors have freely offered unto
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
freewill offering of the people, and of the
priests, offering willingly for the house of
their God which is in Jerusalem:
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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 whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to
thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver
and the 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 whatsoever 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 which are beyond the
river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the
scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall
require of you, it be done speedily,
22 Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an
hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred
baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil,
and salt without prescribing how much.
23 Whatsoever 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 touching 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 thine hand, set magistrates and
judges, which 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 whosoever will not do the law of thy God,
and the law of the king, let judgment be executed
speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or
to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to
imprisonment.
27 Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which
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 unto me before the
king, and his counsellors, 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
gathered together out of Israel chief men to go
up with me.
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