The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Ezra 07
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 up from Babylon. He
was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses,
which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had
given; and the king granted him all his request, according to Yahweh his God’s hand
on him.
7 Some of the children of Israel, including some of the priests, the Levites, the
singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in t
he seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
8 He came to Jerusalem in the fifth
month, which was in the seventh year of
the king.
9 For on the first day of the first month
he began to go up from Babylon; and on
the first day of the fifth month he came to
Jerusalem, according to the good hand of
his God on him.
10 For Ezra had set his heart to seek
Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach
statutes and ordinances in Israel.
11 Now this is the copy of the letter that
King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest,
the scribe, even the scribe of the words
of Yahweh’s commandments, and of his
statutes to Israel:
12 Artaxerxes, king of kings,
To Ezra the priest, the scribe ofthe law of
the perfect God of heaven.
Now
13 I make a decree that all those of the
people of Israel and their priests and the
Levites in my realm, who intend of their
own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with
you.
14 Because you are sent by the king and
his sevencounselors to inquire concerning
Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law
of your God which is in your 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 you
will find in all the province of Babylon,
with the free will offering of the people
and ofthe priests, offering willingly for the
house of their God which is in Jerusalem.
17 Therefore you shall with all diligencebuy with this money bulls, rams, and
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.
18 Whatever seems good to you and to
your brothers to do with the rest of the
silver and the gold, do that according to the
will of your God.
19 The vessels that are given to you
for the service of the house of your God,
deliver before the God of Jerusalem.
20 Whatever more will be needed for
the house of your God, which you may have occasion to give, give it out of the
king’s treasure house.
21 I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, 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, requires of you, it shall
be done with all diligence,
22 up to one hundred talents† of silver,
and to one hundred cors‡ of wheat, and
to one hundred baths§ of wine, and to
one hundred baths of oil, and salt without
prescribing how much.
23 Whatever is commanded by the God
of heaven, let it be done exactly for the
house ofthe God ofheaven;for why should
there be wrath against the realm of the
king and his sons?
24 Also we inform you that it shall not
be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or
toll onany ofthe priests, Levites, singers,
gatekeepers, temple servants, or laborers of this house of God.
25 You, Ezra, according to the wisdom
of your God that is in your hand, appoint
magistrates and judges who may judge
all the people who are beyond the River,
who all know the laws of your God; and
teach him who doesn’t know them.
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 is to death, or to banishment,
or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
27 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our
fathers, who has put such a thing as this
in the king’s heart, to beautify Yahweh’s
house which is in Jerusalem;
28 and has extended loving kindness to
me before the king and his counselors,
and before all the king’s mighty princes. I
was strengthenedaccording toYahwehmy
God’s hand on me, and I gathered together
chief men out of Israel to go up with me.