And this is the copy of the letter which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commandments of Jehovah, and of His statutes to Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven, perfect peace, and now: From me was made a decree that everyone of the people of Israel, and their priests and Levites in my kingdom, who desire of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with you; read more.
since you have been sent by the king, and by his seven counselors to ask about Judah and Jerusalem, according to the Law of your God in your hand; and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose house is in Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold which you can find in all the province of Babylon, with the free will offering of the people and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem. Before all of this, you shall diligently buy with this money, bulls, rams, lambs, with their food offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem. And whatever shall seem good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do that after the will of your God. Also the vessels which are given you for the service of the house of your God, deliver them before the God of Jerusalem. And whatever more shall be needful for the house of God, which you shall have need to give, give it out of the king's treasure house. And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers who are Beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven, shall ask of you, it shall be done exactly, to a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without saying. Whatever is commanded by the God of Heaven, let it be carefully done for the house of the God of Heaven, for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Also, we notify you, that in regard to any of the priests and the Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple slaves, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, taxes, or custom on them. And now, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, set officers and judges who may judge all the people who are Beyond the River, all who know the Laws of your God; and teach them who do not know. And whoever will not do the Law of your God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily on him, whether it is to death, or to exile, or to confiscation of goods, or imprisonment. Blessed be Jehovah, the God of our fathers, who has put this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem, and has extended mercy before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was made strong as the hand of Jehovah my God was on me, and I gathered out of Israel chief men to go up with me.

And I weighed to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, the offering of the house of our God, which the king and his counselors and his lords, and all Israel who were there, had offered. And I weighed into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels of a hundred talents, of gold a hundred talents, and twenty basins of gold of a thousand drams, and two vessels of fine copper as desirable as gold. read more.
And I said to them, You are holy to Jehovah, and the vessels are holy. And the silver and the gold are a free-will offering to Jehovah, the God of your fathers. Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and the chief of the fathers of Israel at Jerusalem in the rooms of the house of Jehovah. So the priests and the Levites took the weight of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God. And we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was on us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and from ambushers by the way. And we came to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. And on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest. And with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, Levites. They were weighed by number and by weight of every one. And all the weight was written at that time.