All the assembly replied in a loud voice: “We will do just as you have said!

“But now briefly we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude.

I called for a fast there by the Ahava Canal, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and all our property.

Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter concerning Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:

A proclamation was circulated throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles were to be assembled in Jerusalem.

What follows is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priestly scribe. Ezra was a scribe in matters pertaining to the commandments of the Lord and his statutes over Israel:

(They gave their word to send away their wives; their guilt offering was a ram from the flock for their guilt.)

“Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the perfect law of the God of heaven:

A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana which is in the province of Media, and it was inscribed as follows: “Memorandum:

But God was watching over the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped until a report could be dispatched to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.

“I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled on it, and his house is to be reduced to a rubbish heap for this indiscretion.

But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God.

The governor instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim.

(This is a copy of the letter they sent to him:) “To King Artaxerxes, from your servants in Trans-Euphrates:

The exiles who were returning from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel – twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven male lambs, along with twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin learned that the former exiles were building a temple for the Lord God of Israel,

“Now if the king is so inclined, let a search be conducted in the royal archives there in Babylon in order to determine whether King Cyrus did in fact issue orders for this temple of God to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us a decision concerning this matter.”

In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the Lord’s message spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord stirred the mind of King Cyrus of Persia. He disseminated a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, announcing in a written edict the following:

While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites – men, women, and children alike – gathered around him. The people wept loudly.

And from among the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name).