Thus said Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth Jehovah gave to me, the God of the heavens; and he charged upon me to build for him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah.

Rehum, lord of judgment, and Shimshai, the scribe, wrote one epistle against Jerusalem to Arthasatha the king, thus:

And the rest of the nations that the great and honored Asnapper carried into exile, and he caused them to dwell in the cities of Shomeron, and the rest beyond the river, and thus.

This the copy of the epistle that they sent to him to Arthasatha the king; thy servants the men beyond the river, and thus.

In that time came to them Tatnai, prefect beyond the river, and ShetharBozni and their colleagues, and thus they said to them, Who set up to you a decree to build this house, and to complete this wall?

Then thus said we to them, What are they the names of the men that build this building?

They sent an epistle to him, thus it was written in the midst of it: To Darius the king, all peace.

Then we asked these old men, thus we said to them, Who set to you a decree to build this house and to complete this wall?

And thus they returned us word, saying, We are the servants of the God of the heavens and the earth, and build the house that was built of old these many years, and a great king to Israel built and completed.

And there was found in Achmetha in the fortress that in the Median province, one roll, and thus a record was written in its midst

Then Tatnai, prefect beyond the river Shethar-Boznai, and three colleagues, because of that Darius the king sent, thus they did speedily.

Arthasatha, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of the heavens, being perfected, and thus.

And thus the sons of the exile will do. And they will be separated, Ezra the priest, men, heads of the fathers, for the house of their fathers, and all of them by names, and they will it down in one day to the tenth month to seek out the word.