Let our leaders take steps ¹  on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

What follows ¹  is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priestly scribe. ²  Ezra was ³  a scribe in matters pertaining to the commandments of the Lord and his statutes over Israel:

Everything was verified ¹  by number and by weight, and the total weight was written down at that time.

You are authorized ¹  by the king and his seven advisers to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your possession, ² 

He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.

So I gave orders, ¹  and it was determined ²  that this city from long ago has been engaging in insurrection against kings. It has continually engaged in ³  rebellion and revolt.

Exercise appropriate caution so that there is no negligence in this matter. Why should danger increase to the point that kings sustain damage?”

They ¹  also asked them, “What are the names of the men who are building this edifice?”

We inquired of those elders, asking them, ‘Who gave you the authority to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?’

But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, ¹  King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God.

A proclamation ¹  was circulated ²  throughout Judah and Jerusalem ³  that all the exiles were to be assembled in Jerusalem.

All the assembly replied in a loud voice: “We will do just as you have said! ¹ 

All their neighbors assisted ¹  them with silver utensils, ²  gold, equipment, animals, and expensive gifts, not to mention ³  all the voluntary offerings.

The governor ¹  instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult ²  the Urim and Thummim.

Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents ¹  and from these foreign wives.”

And during the reign ¹  of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, ²  Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues ³  wrote to King Artaxerxes ⁴  of Persia. This letter ⁵  was first written in Aramaic but then translated. [Aramaic:] ⁶ 

From ¹  Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues – the judges, the rulers, the officials, the secretaries, the Erechites, the Babylonians, the people of Susa (that is, ²  the Elamites),

Now ¹  let the king be aware that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and odious city. ²  They are completing its walls and repairing its foundations.

Let the king also be aware that if this city is built and its walls are completed, no more tax, custom, or toll will be paid, and the royal treasury ¹  will suffer loss.