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¹But when the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them,

²Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began to rebuild God’s house in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, helping them.

³At that time Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues came to the Jews and asked, “Who gave you the order to rebuild this temple and finish this structure?”

⁴They also asked them, “What are the names of the workers who are constructing this building?”

⁵But God was watching over the Jewish elders. These men wouldn’t stop them until a report was sent to Darius, so that they could receive written instructions about this matter.

⁶This is the text of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues, the officials in the region, sent to King Darius.

⁷They sent him a report, written as follows: To King Darius: All greetings.

⁸Let it be known to the king that we went to the house of the great God in the province of Judah. It is being built with cut stones, and its beams are being set in the walls. This work is being done diligently and succeeding through the people’s efforts.

⁹So we questioned the elders and asked, “Who gave you the order to rebuild this temple and finish this structure?”

¹⁰We also asked them for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

¹¹This is the reply they gave us: We are the servants of the God of the heavens and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

¹²But since our fathers angered the God of the heavens, he handed them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.

¹³However, in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, he issued a decree to rebuild the house of God.

¹⁴He also took from the temple in Babylon the gold and silver articles of God’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and carried them to the temple in Babylon. He released them from the temple in Babylon to a man named Sheshbazzar, the governor by the appointment of King Cyrus.

¹⁵Cyrus told him, “Take these articles, put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site.”

¹⁶Then this same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of God’s house in Jerusalem. It has been under construction from that time until now, but it has not been completed.

¹⁷So if it pleases the king, let a search of the royal archives in Babylon be conducted to see if it is true that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. Let the king’s decision regarding this matter be sent to us.

¹King Darius gave the order, and they searched in the library of Babylon in the archives.

²But it was in the fortress of Ecbatana in the province of Media that a scroll was found with this record written on it:

³In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its original foundations be retained. Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety feet,

⁴with three layers of cut stones and one of timber. The cost is to be paid from the royal treasury.

⁵The gold and silver articles of God’s house that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon must also be returned. They are to be brought to the temple in Jerusalem where they belong and put into the house of God.

⁶Therefore, you must stay away from that place, Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues, the officials in the region.

⁷Leave the construction of the house of God alone. Let the governor and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site.

⁸I hereby issue a decree concerning what you are to do, so that the elders of the Jews can rebuild the house of God: The cost is to be paid in full to these men out of the royal revenues from the taxes of the region west of the Euphrates River, so that the work will not stop.

⁹Whatever is needed — young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of the heavens, or wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem — let it be given to them every day without fail,

¹⁰so that they can offer sacrifices of pleasing aroma to the God of the heavens and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

¹¹I also issue a decree concerning any man who interferes with this directive: Let a beam be torn from his house and raised up; he will be impaled on it, and his house will be made into a garbage dump because of this offense.

¹²May the God who caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who dares to harm or interfere with this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out diligently.

¹³Then Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues diligently carried out what King Darius had decreed.

¹⁴So the Jewish elders continued successfully with the building under the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia.

¹⁵This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

¹⁶Then the Israelites, including the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.

¹⁷For the dedication of God’s house they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, as well as twelve male goats as a sin offering for all Israel — one for each Israelite tribe.

¹⁸They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses.

¹⁹The exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

²⁰All of the priests and Levites were ceremonially clean, because they had purified themselves. They killed the Passover lamb for themselves, their priestly brothers, and all the exiles.

²¹The Israelites who had returned from exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land in order to worship the LORD, the God of Israel.

²²They observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful, having changed the Assyrian king’s attitude toward them, so that he supported them in the work on the house of the God of Israel.

¹After these events, during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra — Seraiah’s son, Azariah’s son, Hilkiah’s son,

²Shallum’s son, Zadok’s son, Ahitub’s son,

³Amariah’s son, Azariah’s son, Meraioth’s son,

⁴Zerahiah’s son, Uzzi’s son, Bukki’s son,

⁵Abishua’s son, Phinehas’s son, Eleazar’s son, the chief priest Aaron’s son

⁶— came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he requested because the hand of the LORD his God was on him.

⁷Some of the Israelites, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants accompanied him to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

⁸Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, during the seventh year of the king.

⁹He began the journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month and arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month since the gracious hand of his God was on him.

¹⁰Now Ezra had determined in his heart to study the law of the LORD, obey it, and teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.

¹¹This is the text of the letter King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest and scribe, an expert in matters of the LORD’s commands and statutes for Israel:

¹²Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, an expert in the law of the God of the heavens: Greetings.

¹³I issue a decree that any of the Israelites in my kingdom, including their priests and Levites, who want to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.

¹⁴You are sent by the king and his seven counselors to evaluate Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your possession.

¹⁵You are also to bring the silver and gold the king and his counselors have willingly given to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,

¹⁶and all the silver and gold you receive throughout the province of Babylon, together with the freewill offerings given by the people and the priests to the house of their God in Jerusalem.

¹⁷Then you are to be diligent to buy with this money bulls, rams, and lambs, along with their grain and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar at the house of your God in Jerusalem.

¹⁸You may do whatever seems best to you and your brothers with the rest of the silver and gold, according to the will of your God.

¹⁹Deliver to the God of Jerusalem all the articles given to you for the service of the house of your God.

²⁰You may use the royal treasury to pay for anything else needed for the house of your God.

²¹I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers in the region west of the Euphrates River: Whatever Ezra the priest, an expert in the law of the God of the heavens, asks of you must be provided in full,

²²up to 7,500 pounds of silver, 500 bushels of wheat, 550 gallons of wine, 550 gallons of oil, and salt without limit.

²³Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven must be done diligently for the house of the God of the heavens, so that wrath will not fall on the realm of the king and his sons.

²⁴Be advised that you do not have authority to impose tribute, duty, and land tax on any priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

²⁵And you, Ezra, according to God’s wisdom that you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to judge all the people in the region west of the Euphrates who know the laws of your God and to teach anyone who does not know them.

²⁶Anyone who does not keep the law of your God and the law of the king, let the appropriate judgment be executed against him, whether death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.

²⁷Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put it into the king’s mind to glorify the house of the LORD in Jerusalem,

²⁸and who has shown favor to me before the king, his counselors, and all his powerful officers. So I took courage because I was strengthened by the hand of the LORD my God, and I gathered Israelite leaders to return with me.