Ezra Chapter 7 Back Next{7:1} 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,
{7:2} the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of
Ahitub,
{7:3} the son of
Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of
Meraioth,
{7:4} the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
{7:5} the son of
Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of
Eleazar, the son of
Aaron the chief priest;
{7:6} this Ezra went up from
Babylon: and he was a ready scribe in the
law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of
Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of Yahweh his God on him.
{7:7} There went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the
Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinim, to
Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
{7:8} He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
{7:9} For on 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 on him.
{7:10} For Ezra had set his
heart to seek the law of Yahweh, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances.
{7:11} Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of the commandments of Yahweh, and of his statutes to Israel:
{7:12} Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of
heaven, perfect and so forth.
{7:13} I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are minded of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you.
{7:14} Because you are sent of the king and his seven
counselors, to inquire concerning
Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand,
{7:15} 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,
{7:16} and all the silver and gold that you shall 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;
{7:17} therefore you shall with all diligence buy with this money bulls, rams,
lambs, with their meal offerings and their
drink offerings, and shall offer them on the
altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
{7:18} Whatever shall seem good to you and to your
brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do that after the will of your God.
{7:19} The vessels that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem.
{7:20} Whatever more shall be needful for the house of your God, which you shall have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house.
{7:21} 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 with all diligence,
{7:22} to one hundred talents of silver, and to one hundred measures of wheat, and to one hundred baths of wine, and to one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
{7:23} Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
{7:24} Also we inform you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, the singers, porters, Nethinim, or servants of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, on them.
{7:25} You, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God who is in your hand, appoint
magistrates and
judges, who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach him who doesn't know them.
{7:26} Whoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it be to
death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
{7:27}
Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our
fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem;
{7:28} and has extended loving kindness to me before the king, and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes. I was strengthened according to the hand of Yahweh my God on me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.
Ezra Chapter 7 Back Next