All the articles of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with those of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.

And these were they who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harhsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer: but they could not prove their father's house, and their descent, whether they were of Israel:

These sought their listing among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as defiled, excluded from the priesthood.

From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.

They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, unto them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to oversee the work of the house of the LORD.

So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

Be it known unto the king, that the Jews who came up from you to us have come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and wicked city, and are finishing its walls, and repairing the foundations.

Now because we receive support from the king's palace, and it was not proper for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore have we sent and informed the king;

That search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers: so shall you find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and harmful unto kings and provinces, and that they have incited sedition within the city from of old: for which cause was this city destroyed.

And I commanded, and search has been made, and it is found that this city from of old has made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it.

Give you now command to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not built, until another command shall be given from me.

Now therefore, Tattenai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-bozenai, and your companions the governors, who are beyond the river, keep yourselves far from there:

Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be impaled thereon; and let his house be made a pile of rubble because of this.

And the children of Israel, who had come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat,

This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.

For upon the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.

These are now the heads of their fathers' houses, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.

Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.

Now when these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, in regard to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having torn my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,

And now for a little while grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us security in his holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

Which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which you go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came there, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.

And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the order of the leaders and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and he himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.

Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the foreign wives.

Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them who have taken foreign wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter is turned from us.