1 Esdras 7

¹And after these things in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persians, Esdras, the son of Saraias, the son of Azarias, the son of Helcias,

²the son of Sellum, the son of Sadoc, the son of Achitob,

³the son of Amarias, the son of Azarias, the son of Maraioth,

⁴the son of Zarahias, the son of Ozi, the son of Bocci,

⁵the son of Abisue, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the Priest from the beginning:

⁶The same Esdras came up from Babylon, and he was a quick scribe in the law of Moyses, which our Lord God gave to Israel: and the king gave him according to the hand of our Lord his God upon him all his petition.

⁷And there came up of the children of Israel, and of the children of the Priests, and of the children of the Levites, and of the singing men, and of the porters, and of the Nathineites into Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.

⁸And they came into Jerusalem the fifth month, that is the seventh year of the king.

⁹For in the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and in the first day of the fifth month he came into Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.

¹⁰For Esdras prepared his heart to search the law of our God, & to do and to teach in Israel precept & judgment,

¹¹And this is the copy of the epistle of the edict, which king Artaxerxes gave to Esdras the Priest, the learned scribe, in the words and precepts of our Lord, & his ceremonies in Israel.

¹²Artaxerxes the king of kings to Esdras the Priest, the most learned scribe of the law of God of heaven, greeting.

¹³It is decreed by me that whomsoever it shall please in my Kingdom, of the people of Israel, and of the Priests and Levites, to go into Jerusalem, let him go with thee.

¹⁴For thou art sent from the face of the king, & of his seven counsellers, that thou mayst visit Jewry & Jerusalem in the law of thy God, which is in thy hand.

¹⁵And that thou mayst carry the silver & gold, which the king & his counsellers have voluntarily offered to the God of Israel, whose tabernacle is in Jerusalem.

¹⁶And all the silver & gold whatsoever thou shalt find in all the Province of Babylon, & the people will offer, & of the Priests that shall voluntarily offer to the house of their God which is in Jerusalem,

¹⁷take freely, and buy diligently of this money calves, rams, lambs, and the sacrifices and libaments of them, and offer them upon the altar of the temple of your God, that is in Jerusalem.

¹⁸Yea and if it shall please thee, and thy brethren to do any thing with the rest of the silver and gold, do ye according to the will of your God.

¹⁹The vessels also, which are given thee for the ministry of the house of thy God, deliver thou in the sight of God in Jerusalem.

²⁰Yea and other things whereof need shall be for the house of thy God, how much soever is necessary for thee to spend, thou shalt give it out of the treasure and exchequer of the king, and from me.

²¹I Artaxerxes the king have appointed and decreed to all the keepers of the Common coffer, that are beyond the River, that whatsoever Esdras the Priest, the scribe of the law of God of heaven, shall ask of you, you give it without delay,

²²unto an hundred talents of silver, and unto an hundred cores of wheat, and unto an hundred bates of wine, and unto an hundred bates of oil, but salt without measure.

²³All that pertaineth to the rite of the God of heaven let it be given diligently in the house of the God of heaven: lest perhaps he be angry against the kingdom of the king, and of his sons.

²⁴We do you also to understand concerning all the Priests, & Levites, and the singers, and the porters, the Nathineites, and ministers of the house of this God, that you have no authority to put toll and tribute and yearly rents upon them.

²⁵And thou Esdras according to the wisdom of thy God, which is in thy hand, appoint judges and presidents, that they may judge for all the people, that is beyond the River, that is for them which know the law of thy God, yea and the ignorant teach ye freely.

²⁶And every one that shall not do the law of thy God, and the law of thy king diligently, there shall be judgement of him, either unto death, or into banishment, or to the confiscation of his substance, or at the least into prison.

²⁷Blessed be our Lord the God of our fathers, which hath put this in the king's heart, that he would glorify the house of our Lord, which is in Jerusalem,

²⁸and hath inclined his mercy toward me before the king and his counsellers, and all the mighty princes of the king: and I taking courage by the hand of our Lord my God, which was on me, gathered together out of Israel princes that should go up with me.