Thus, saith Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth, hath Yahweh God of the heavens, given to me, - and, he himself, hath laid charge upon me, to build for him a house, in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

So we fasted and sought of our God, concerning this, - and he suffered himself to be entreated by us.

Now, when Ezra had prayed and when he had made confession, weeping and casting himself down, before the house of God, there gathered unto him out of Israel, an exceeding large convocation - men and women and children, for the people wept with a very bitter weeping.

and, whosoever should not come within three days, according to the counsel of the rulers and the elders, all his goods should be devoted, - and, himself, be separated from the convocation of them of the Exile.

But the Sons of the Exile, did thus, and Ezra the priest separated to himself certain men - ancestral heads by their ancestral houses, and all of them by name, - and they took their seats on the first day of the tenth month to search into the matter;