Ezra 7:1-16

1And after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkijah,

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

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

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

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

6— this Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which Jehovah the 1God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of Jehovah his 2God upon him.

7(And there went up [some] of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the doorkeepers, and the Nethinim, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.)

8And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.

9For upon the first of the first month the project of going up from Babylon was determined on, and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his 3God upon him.

10For Ezra had directed his heart to seek the law of Jehovah and to do it, and to teach in Israel the statutes and the ordinances.

11And this is the copy of the letter that king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commandments of Jehovah, and of his statutes to Israel:

12Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, an accomplished scribe of the law of the 4God of the heavens, and so forth.

13I have given orders that all they of the people of Israel, and of their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are disposed to go to Jerusalem, go with thee.

14Because thou art sent by the king, and by his seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy 5God which is in thy hand;

15and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors have freely offered to the 6God of Israel, whose habitation is at Jerusalem,

16and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, besides the voluntary offering of the people, and of the priests, who offer willingly for the house of their 7God which is at Jerusalem.