And Hathirsatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy, till there rose up a priest with the light and perfectness.

And certain of the chief fathers, when they came to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, they offered willingly unto the house of God, that it should be set in his place;

That it may be sought in the Chronicles of thy progenitors, and so shalt thou find in the same Chronicles, and perceive, that this city is seditious and noisome unto kings and lands, and that they cause others also to rebel of the old, and for the same cause was this city destroyed.

Therefore do we certify the king, that if this city be builded, and the walls thereof made up, thou shalt keep nothing on this side the water by the reason of it."

If it please the king now, let there be search made in the king's treasure house, which is at Babylon, whether it have been king Cyrus' commandment, that the house of God at Jerusalem should be builded: and send us the king's mind concerning the same."

Then commanded king Darius, that search should be made in the library of the king's treasure house which lay at Babylon.

And to those gave I commandment unto Iddo, the chiefest at Casiphia; and I told them what they should say unto Iddo and his brethren the Nethinims at Casiphia: that they should cause the ministers of the house of our God to come unto us.

For we are bondmen, and our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, and hath inclined mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, that he should give us life, and promote the house of our God, and to set up the desolation thereof, and to give us a hedge in Judah and in Jerusalem.

Then rose Ezra, and took an oath of the rulers, priests, and Levites, and all of Israel, that they should do according to this word: and they sware.

And they caused a proclamation be made throughout Judah and Jerusalem, unto all the children which had been in captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem:

And that whosoever came not within three days, according to the device of the rulers and Elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and be put out from the congregation of the captive.