1Now after these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, Ezra went up—the son of Azaraios, son of Zechrias, son of Chelkeias, son of Salemos,
2son of Saddoulokos, son of Acheitob, son of Amartheias, son of Ozeias, son of Bokka, son of Abeisai, son of Phinees, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the first priest.
3This Ezra went up from Babylon; he was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which was given by the God of Israel.
4And the king gave him honor, for he had found favor in his sight regarding all his requests.
5And some of the sons of Israel, and of the priests, Levites, temple singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants went up with him to Jerusalem,
6in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, in the fifth month. (This was the second year for the king.) For they departed from Babylon on the new moon of the first month and arrived in Jerusalem, according to the successful journey given to them by the Lord on his account.
7For Apsaras possessed great understanding, so as to omit nothing from the Law of the Lord and the commandments, and to teach all Israel statutes and judgments.
8The decree that came from King Artaxerxes to Ezra the priest and reader of the Law of the Lord, of which the following is a copy:
9“King Artaxerxes to Ezra the priest and reader of the Law of the Lord, greetings.
10I, having judged it a benevolent act, have ordered that those from the nation of the Jews in our kingdom who freely choose—including the priests and the Levites—may journey with you to Jerusalem.
11Therefore, let all who are so minded set out together, just as has been decreed by me and my seven friends and counselors.
12so that they may investigate the affairs in Judea and Jerusalem in accordance with the Law of the Lord that you possess.
13and to bring to the Lord in Jerusalem the gifts that I and my friends have vowed, and all the gold and silver that may be found in the country of Babylonia for the Lord in Jerusalem, along with the gift from the nation for the temple of their Lord in Jerusalem.
14The gold and silver are to be collected for bulls, rams, and lambs, and for their accompanying offerings,
15so that they may offer sacrifices on the altar of their Lord in Jerusalem.
16And whatever you and your brothers wish to do with the remaining gold and silver, do it according to the will of your God.
17The sacred vessels that are given to you for the service of the temple of your God in Jerusalem, you are to present. And whatever else you may need for the service of the temple of your God,
18you shall provide from the royal treasury.
19And I, King Artaxerxes, have ordered the treasurers of Syria and Phoenicia to provide promptly to Ezra, the priest and reader of the Law of the Most High God, whatever he may require, up to one hundred talents of silver,
20and likewise up to one hundred cors of wheat and one hundred measures of wine.
21Let everything be done for the Most High God according to the law of God, so that wrath may not come upon the kingdom of the king and his sons.
22You are also commanded that no tax or any other imposition shall be laid on any of the priests, Levites, temple singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or ministers of this temple, and that no one is to have authority to impose anything on them.
23And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of God, are to appoint judges and magistrates to administer justice in all of Syria and Phoenicia for all who know the law of your God; and you shall teach those who do not know it.
24And all who transgress the law of your God and the royal law shall be diligently punished, whether by death, or by punishment, or by a monetary fine, or by banishment.”
25Blessed be the Lord alone, who put these things into the heart of the king to glorify his house in Jerusalem.
26And he has honored me before the rulers and all his Friends and nobles.
27And I took courage, according to the help of the Lord my God, and I gathered men from Israel to go up with me.
28And these are the leaders, according to their ancestral houses and their divisions, who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxerxes:
29From the sons of Phoros, Tarosotomos. From the sons of Ietamaros, Gamelos. From the sons of David,
30Phares, Zacharias, and with him, according to the register, one hundred and fifty men.
31Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Elioenai son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred men.
32Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him two hundred men. Of the sons of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him two hundred and fifty men.
33Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him seventy men.
34Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him seventy men.
35Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and twelve men.
36Of the sons of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him one hundred and sixty men.
37Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight men.
38Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him one hundred and ten men.
39Of the last sons of Adonikam, and these were their names: Eliphelet son of Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them seventy men.
40Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai son of Istalcurus, and with him seventy men.
41I gathered them at the river called Theras, and we encamped there for three days. And I inspected them.
42and when I found none of the priests or Levites there,
43I sent for Eleazar, Iduel, Maasmas, Elnatan, Shemaiah, Jorib, Nathan, Ennatan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders and men of understanding,
44and I told them to go to Iddo, the leader at the place of the treasury,
45instructing them to speak to Iddo and his kinsmen, the treasurers in that place, and to ask them to send us men to minister in the house of our Lord.
46a man of understanding, Sherebiah, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, and his sons and his brothers, ten men;
47and from the sons of Hananiah, and their sons, twenty men;
48and from the temple servants, whom David and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty temple servants; all of them were designated by name.
49And there I proclaimed a fast for the young men before our Lord,
50to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and our livestock.
51For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of foot soldiers and horsemen for protection against our enemies.
52For we had said to the king, ‘The strength of our Lord will be with those who seek him, for their good.’
53So we prayed again to our Lord about all these things, and he was gracious to us.
54Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, along with Sherebiah and Hashabiah, and with them ten of their kinsmen.
55And I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the holy vessels of the house of our Lord, which the king, his counselors, his nobles, and all Israel had donated.
56And having weighed it, I delivered to them six hundred and fifty talents of silver, silver vessels worth one hundred talents, one hundred talents of gold, twenty golden bowls, and ten vessels of fine, shining bronze, as precious as gold.
57And I said to them, ‘You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the Lord of our fathers.
58Be watchful and guard them until you deliver them to the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and to the heads of the families of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of our Lord.’
59So the priests and the Levites received the silver, the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the temple of our Lord.
60We set out from the river Theras on the twelfth day of the first month, and we came to Jerusalem by the mighty hand of our Lord that was upon us. He delivered us from every enemy along the way, and so we arrived in Jerusalem.
61And on the third day there, the silver and the gold were weighed and delivered in the house of the Lord to Marmothi son of Oureias the priest.
62With him was Eleazar the son of Phinees, and with them were Iosabees son of Iesous and Moeth son of Sabannos, the Levites. Everything was by number and weight, and the entire weight was recorded at that very hour.
63And those who had come from the captivity offered sacrifices to the God of Israel, the Lord: ninety-six rams, seventy-six lambs, and twelve male goats for a salvation offering—all as a sacrifice to the Lord.
64And they delivered the king’s commands to the royal officials and the governors of Syria and Phoenicia, and they honored the nation and the temple of the Lord.
65And when these things were completed, the leaders came to me, saying,
66“The nation of Israel, the rulers, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the foreign nations and their uncleanness: the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Edomites.
67For they have taken some of their daughters in marriage for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed has been mixed with the foreign nations of the land. Indeed, the leaders and the officials have taken part in this lawlessness from the very beginning.”
68As soon as I heard these things, I tore my garments and the sacred vestment, and I pulled out hair from my head and my beard, and I sat down stunned and deeply grieved.
69And all who trembled at the word of the Lord of Israel gathered to me as I mourned over this lawlessness, and I sat there deeply grieved until the evening sacrifice.
70And rising from the fast, with my garments and the sacred vestment torn, I knelt down, stretched out my hands to the Lord, and said:
71“O Lord, I am ashamed; I am disgraced before your face.
72For our sins have multiplied, rising higher than our heads, and our errors have reached up to heaven.
73From the days of our fathers until this very day, we have been in great sin.
74And because of our sins and those of our fathers, we—along with our brothers, our kings, and our priests—were delivered over to the kings of the earth, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder with shame, as is the case to this day.
75And now, for a brief moment, mercy has come to us from the Lord, the Lord, to leave for us a root and a name in his holy place,
76and to reveal a light for us in the house of our Lord, to give us food in the time of our servitude. Even in our servitude, we were not abandoned by our Lord,
77but he has given us favor in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us food
78and to glorify our temple, to raise up the desolate Zion, and to give us a firm standing in Judea and Jerusalem.
79And now, O Lord, what can we say in light of these things? Our people have transgressed your commandments, which you gave by the hand of your servants the prophets, saying:
80‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled with the pollution of the foreigners of the land, and they have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness.
81And now, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, and do not take their daughters for your sons.
82And you shall never seek peace with them, so that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’
83And all that has happened to us has come about because of our evil works and our great sins. For you, O Lord, have lightened our sins,
84and have given us such a root; yet we have turned back again to transgress your law by mixing with the uncleanness of the nations of the land.
85Will you not be angry with us to the point of destroying us, until there is no root or seed or name of ours left?
86O Lord of Israel, you are true, for we are left as a root to this day.
87Behold, we are before you in our lawlessness; for it is not possible to stand before you any longer because of these things.”
88And while Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and prostrate before the temple, a very great crowd of men, women, and young people from Jerusalem gathered to him; for there was great weeping among the assembly.
89Then Iechonias son of Ieelos, one of the sons of Israel, cried out and said to Ezra, “We have sinned against the Lord and have married foreign women from the nations of the land. Yet even now there is hope for all Israel.”
90Therefore, let us make an oath to the Lord to send away all our foreign wives, along with their children, as seems good to you and to those who obey the law of the Lord.
91Arise and act, for this matter is your responsibility, and we will be strong with you.
92So Ezra arose and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and of all Israel swear to act according to these things, and they swore.
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