During the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the message from the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD prompted Cyrus, king of Persia, to make this proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, which was also released in written form:

As well as their men-servants and their women-servants, of whom there were seven thousand, three hundred and thirty-seven: and they had two hundred men and women to make music.

And they make the feast of the booths as it is written, and the burnt-offering of the day daily in number according to the ordinance, the matter of a day in its day;

and are hiring against them counsellors to make void their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even till the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which are come up from thee to us unto Ierusalem, into that seditious and wicked city, build the same? And make up the walls of it? And bring it out of the foundation?

Now since we eat the salt of the palace and the dishonor of the king is not proper for us to see, we send and make [this] known to the king,

We make known to the king that if this city is built and the walls are finished, you will have nothing in [the province] Beyond the River."

and I have commanded to make search: and it is found, that this city, of old, hath made insurrection against kings; and how the uproar and rebellion hath been committed therein.

Make ye now a decree to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until a decree shall be made by me.

At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shetharboznai, and their companions, and said thus unto them, Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall?

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

But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease, till the matter should come to Darius, and then answer should be returned by letter concerning it.

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

We also asked them their names to make them known to you, that we might write down the {name of their leaders}.

In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made an order: In connection with the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be put up, the place where they make offerings, and let the earth for the bases be put in place; let it be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide;

Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expences be given unto these men, that they be not hindered.

So that they may make offerings of a sweet smell to the God of heaven, with prayers for the life of the king and of his sons.

I have also issued a decree that if there is any man who violates this edict, a beam of timber shall be pulled from his house [and set up]; then he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be turned into a refuse heap for this [violation].

May the God who has caused His Name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who attempts to alter this command, so as to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree; let it be carried out quickly and with due diligence.”

And the sons of the captivity make the passover on the fourteenth of the first month,

and they make the feast of unleavened things seven days with joy, for Jehovah made them to rejoice, and turned round the heart of the king of Asshur unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

On the first day of the first month he had determined to make the ascent from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.

I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.

'And the vessels that are given to thee, for the service of the house of thy God, make perfect before the God of Jerusalem;

And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,

In addition, we make it clear to you, that it will be against the law to put any tax or payment in goods or forced payment on any of the priests or Levites, the music-makers, door-keepers, Nethinim, or any servants of this house of God.

Praise be to the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing into the heart of the king, to make fair the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem;

Then I gave orders for a time of going without food, there by the river Ahava, so that we might make ourselves low before our God in prayer, requesting from him a straight way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance.

For I would not, for shame, make request to the king for a band of armed men and horsemen to give us help against those who might make attacks on us on the way: for we had said to the king, The hand of our God is on his servants for good, but his power and his wrath are against all those who are turned away from him.

Then we went away from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was on us, and he gave us salvation from our haters and those who were waiting to make an attack on us by the way.

For we are servants; but our God has not been turned away from us in our prison, but has had mercy on us before the eyes of the kings of Persia, to give us new strength to put up again the house of our God and to make fair its waste places, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

As for us, we have turned back, and have let go thy commandments, to make contract with the people of these abominations. Wilt thou then be wroth at us, till we be utterly consumed, so that nothing remain, and there be no deliverance?

Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, "Ye have transgressed, that have taken strange wives, to make the trespass of Israel yet more:

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 strange wives.