And many of the priests, and the Levites, and the heads of the fathers, the aged men who had seen the first house -- in this house being founded before their eyes -- are weeping with a loud voice, and many with a shout, in joy, lifting up the voice;

The letter that ye sent unto us, explained, hath been read before me,

Then from the time that a copy of the letter of king Artaxerxes is read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they have gone in haste to Jerusalem, unto the Jews, and caused them to cease by force and strength;

And thus they have returned us word, saying, We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was built many years before this, that a great king of Israel built and finished:

'And the vessels that are given to thee, for the service of the house of thy God, make perfect before the God of Jerusalem;

and unto me hath stretched out kindness before the king and his counsellors, and before all the mighty heads of the king: and I have strengthened myself as the hand of Jehovah my God is upon me, and I gather out of Israel heads to go up with me.

And I proclaim there a fast, by the river Ahava, to afflict ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a right way for us, and for our infants, and for all our substance,

watch, and keep, till ye weigh before the heads of the priests, and of the Levites, and the heads of the fathers of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Jehovah.'

for servants we are, and in our servitude our God hath not forsaken us, and stretcheth out unto us kindness before the kings of Persia, to give to us a quickening to lift up the house of our God, and to cause its wastes to cease, and to give to us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

O Jehovah, God of Israel, righteous art Thou, for we have been left an escape, as it is this day; lo, we are before Thee in our guilt, for there is none to stand before Thee concerning this.'

And at Ezra's praying, and at his making confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there have been gathered unto him out of Israel an assembly very great -- men and women and children -- for the people have wept, multiplying weeping.

And Ezra riseth from before the house of God, and goeth unto the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib; yea, he goeth there, bread he hath not eaten, and water he hath not drunk, for he is mourning because of the trespass of the removal.