7Ezra 7

1Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,Select Ezra 7:1

2The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,Select Ezra 7:2

3The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,Select Ezra 7:3

4The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,Select Ezra 7:4

5The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:Select Ezra 7:5

6This 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 on him.Select Ezra 7:6

7And 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, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.Select Ezra 7:7

8And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.Select Ezra 7:8

9For 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.Select Ezra 7:9

10For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. ¶Select Ezra 7:10

11Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.Select Ezra 7:11

12Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time.Select Ezra 7:12

13I 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 you.Select Ezra 7:13

14For as much as you are sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand;Select Ezra 7:14

15And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,Select Ezra 7:15

16And all the silver and gold that you can 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:Select Ezra 7:16

17That you may buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.Select Ezra 7:17

18And whatever shall seem good to you, and to your brothers, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.Select Ezra 7:18

19The vessels also that are given you for the service of the house of your God, those deliver you before the God of Jerusalem.Select Ezra 7:19

20And 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.Select Ezra 7:20

21And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which 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 speedily,Select Ezra 7:21

22To 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.Select Ezra 7:22

23Whatever 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?Select Ezra 7:23

24Also 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, on them.Select Ezra 7:24

25And you, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God, that is in your hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach you them that know them not.Select Ezra 7:25

26And whoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily on him, whether it be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. ¶Select Ezra 7:26

27Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:Select Ezra 7:27

28And has extended mercy to 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 on me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.Select Ezra 7:28