Thus said Cyrus king of Persia, All kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, God of the heavens, given to me, and He hath laid a charge on me to build to Him a house in Jerusalem, that is in Judah;

And the governor said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till a priest could consult with Urim and with Thummim.

Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of the fathers' houses, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as you do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.

But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel, said unto them, You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.

At the same time came to them Tattenai, governor on this side of the river, and Shethar-bozenai, and their companions, and said thus unto them, Who has commanded you to build this house, and to restore this wall?

Then said we unto them after this manner, These are the names of the men that make this building.

Then asked we those elders, and said unto them, Who commanded you to build this house, and to complete these walls?

But they answered us with these words, and said, 'We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up.

And said unto him, Take these articles, go, carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in its place.

Then Tattenai, the ruler across the river, and Shethar-bozenai and their people, because of the order given by King Darius, did as he had said with all care.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers [said Ezra], who put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn and glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,

For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horses to protect us from enemies on the way because we said to the king, "the hand of our God is favorable to all who seek him, but his strength and anger are against all who forsake them."

And I said unto them, You are holy unto the LORD; the articles are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering unto the LORD God of your fathers.

After these things had been done, the leaders approached me and said: “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the surrounding peoples whose detestable practices are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.

And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God: for our iniquities have risen higher than our head, and our trespass has grown up unto the heavens.

which thou hast commanded by thy servants the Prophets, and said, 'The land unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land through the filthiness of the people of the lands, in their abominations wherewith they have made it full of uncleanness on every side.

And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

Then Ezra stood up and made the chief priests, Levites, and all of Israel swear to do according to what was said. So they swore this oath.

And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, You have transgressed, and have taken foreign wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.

Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As you has said, so must we do.