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 The LORD, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to the LORD 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 the 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 The LORD's law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

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 LORD's commandments, and of his statutes to Israel:

12. Artaxerxes, king of kings,To Ezra the priest, the scribe of the 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 seven counselors, 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 freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem;

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.

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 of the God of heaven; 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, on any of the 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 The LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify The LORD'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 strengthened according to the LORD my God's hand on me, and I gathered together chief men out of Israel to go up with me.

1. Now these are the children of the province, who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his city;

2. who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.The number of the men of the people of Israel:

3. The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two.

4. The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy-two.

5. The children of Arah, seven hundred seventy-five.

6. The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred twelve.

7. The children of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.

8. The children of Zattu, nine hundred forty-five.

9. The children of Zaccai, seven hundred sixty.

10. The children of Bani, six hundred forty-two.

11. The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty-three.

12. The children of Azgad, one thousand two hundred twenty-two.

13. The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-six.

14. The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty-six.

15. The children of Adin, four hundred fifty-four.

16. The children of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight.

17. The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty-three.

18. The children of Jorah, one hundred twelve.

19. The children of Hashum, two hundred twenty-three.

20. The children of Gibbar, ninety-five.

21. The children of Bethlehem, one hundred twenty-three.

22. The men of Netophah, fifty-six.

23. The men of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight.

24. The children of Azmaveth, forty-two.

25. The children of Kiriath Arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three.

26. The children of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one.

27. The men of Michmas, one hundred twenty-two.

28. The men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred twenty-three.

29. The children of Nebo, fifty-two.

30. The children of Magbish, one hundred fifty-six.

31. The children of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.

32. The children of Harim, three hundred twenty.

33. The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty-five.

34. The children of Jericho, three hundred forty-five.

35. The children of Senaah, three thousand six hundred thirty.

36. The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy-three.

37. The children of Immer, one thousand fifty-two.

38. The children of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven.

39. The children of Harim, one thousand seventeen.

40. The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy-four.

41. The singers: the children of Asaph, one hundred twenty-eight.

42. The children of the gatekeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, in all one hundred thirty-nine.

43. The temple servants: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,

44. the children of Keros, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon,

45. the children of Lebanah, the children of Hagabah, the children of Akkub,

46. the children of Hagab, the children of Shamlai, the children of Hanan,

47. the children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, the children of Reaiah,

48. the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, the children of Gazzam,

49. the children of Uzza, the children of Paseah, the children of Besai,

50. the children of Asnah, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephisim,

51. the children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur,

52. the children of Bazluth, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha,

53. the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Temah,

54. the children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha.

55. The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Hassophereth, the children of Peruda,

56. the children of Jaalah, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel,

57. the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth Hazzebaim, the children of Ami.

58. All the temple servants, and the children of Solomon's servants, were three hundred ninety-two.

59. These were those who went up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers' houses, and their offspring, whether they were of Israel:

60. the children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty-two.

61. Of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Hakkoz, and the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name.

62. These sought their place among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood.

63. The governor told them that they should not eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to serve with Urim and with Thummim.

64. The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty,

65. besides their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; and they had two hundred singing men and singing women.

66. Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five;

67. their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty.

68. Some of the heads of fathers' households, when they came to The LORD's house which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for God's house to set it up in its place.

69. They gave according to their ability into the treasury of the work sixty-one thousand darics of PERSIAn king, weighing about 8.4 grams or about 0.27 troy ounces each.' class="cooltip">gold, and five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priests' garments.

70. So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants, lived in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

The gold and silver vessels of God's house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king also took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.