Ezra Arrives in Jerusalem

¹Many years later, when Artaxerxes was emperor of Persia, there was a man named Ezra. He traced his ancestors back to Aaron, the High Priest, as follows: Ezra was the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,

²son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,

³son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth,

⁴son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki,

⁵son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron.

^6-7Ezra was a scholar with a thorough knowledge of the Law which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given to Moses. Because Ezra had the blessing of the Lord his God, the emperor gave him everything he asked for. In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, Ezra set out from Babylonia for Jerusalem with a group of Israelites which included priests, Levites, Temple musicians, Temple guards, and workers.

^8-9They left Babylonia on the first day of the first month, and with God's help they arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month.

¹⁰Ezra had devoted his life to studying the Law of the Lord, to practicing it, and to teaching all its laws and regulations to the people of Israel.

The Document Which Emperor Artaxerxes Gave to Ezra

¹¹Emperor Artaxerxes gave the following document to Ezra, the priest and scholar, who had a thorough knowledge of the laws and commands which the Lord had given to Israel:

¹²“From Emperor Artaxerxes to the priest Ezra, scholar in the Law of the God of Heaven.

¹³“I command that throughout my empire all the Israelite people, priests, and Levites that so desire be permitted to go with you to Jerusalem.

¹⁴I, together with my seven counselors, send you to investigate the conditions in Jerusalem and Judah in order to see how well the Law of your God, which has been entrusted to you, is being obeyed.

¹⁵You are to take with you the gold and silver offerings which I and my counselors desire to give to the God of Israel, whose Temple is in Jerusalem.

¹⁶You are also to take all the silver and gold which you collect throughout the province of Babylon and the offerings which the Israelite people and their priests give for the Temple of their God in Jerusalem.

¹⁷“You are to spend this money carefully and buy bulls, rams, lambs, grain, and wine and offer them on the altar of the Temple in Jerusalem.

¹⁸You may use the silver and gold that is left over for whatever you and your people desire, in accordance with the will of your God.

¹⁹You are to present to God in Jerusalem all the utensils that have been given to you for use in the Temple services.

²⁰And anything else which you need for the Temple, you may get from the royal treasury.

²¹“I command all the treasury officials in West-of-Euphrates Province to provide promptly for Ezra, the priest and scholar in the Law of the God of Heaven, everything he asks you for,

²²up to a limit of 7,500 pounds of silver, 500 bushels of wheat, 550 gallons of wine, 550 gallons of olive oil, and as much salt as needed.

²³You must be careful to provide everything which the God of Heaven requires for his Temple, and so make sure that he is never angry with me or with those who reign after me.

²⁴You are forbidden to collect any taxes from the priests, Levites, musicians, guards, workers, or anyone else connected with this Temple.

²⁵“You, Ezra, using the wisdom which your God has given you, are to appoint administrators and judges to govern all the people in West-of-Euphrates who live by the Law of your God. You must teach that Law to anyone who does not know it.

²⁶If any disobey the laws of your God or the laws of the empire, they are to be punished promptly: by death or by exile or by confiscation of their property or by imprisonment.”

Ezra Praises God

²⁷Ezra said, “Praise the Lord, the God of our ancestors! He has made the emperor willing to honor in this way the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.

²⁸By God's grace I have won the favor of the emperor, of his counselors, and of all his powerful officials; the Lord my God has given me courage, and I have been able to persuade many of the heads of the clans of Israel to return with me.”

The People Who Returned from Exile

¹This is the list of the heads of the clans who had been in exile in Babylonia and who returned with Ezra to Jerusalem when Artaxerxes was emperor:

^2-14Gershom, of the clan of Phinehas Daniel, of the clan of Ithamar Hattush son of Shecaniah, of the clan of David Zechariah, of the clan of Parosh, with 150 men of his clan (there were records of their family lines) Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, of the clan of Pahath Moab, with 200 men Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, of the clan of Zattu, with 300 men Ebed son of Jonathan, of the clan of Adin, with 50 men Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, of the clan of Elam, with 70 men Zebadiah son of Michael, of the clan of Shephatiah, with 80 men Obadiah son of Jehiel, of the clan of Joab, with 218 men Shelomith son of Josiphiah, of the clan of Bani, with 160 men Zechariah son of Bebai, of the clan of Bebai, with 28 men Johanan son of Hakkatan, of the clan of Azgad, with 110 men Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, of the clan of Adonikam, with 60 men (they returned at a later date) Uthai and Zaccur, of the clan of Bigvai, with 70 men

Ezra Finds Levites for the Temple

¹⁵I assembled the entire group by the canal that runs to the town of Ahava, and we camped there three days. I found that there were priests in the group, but no Levites.

¹⁶I sent for nine of the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, and for two teachers, Joiarib and Elnathan.

¹⁷I sent them to Iddo, head of the community at Casiphia, to ask him and his associates, the Temple workers, to send us people to serve God in the Temple.

¹⁸Through God's grace they sent us Sherebiah, an able man, a Levite from the clan of Mahli; and eighteen of his sons and brothers came with him.

¹⁹They also sent Hashabiah and Jeshaiah of the clan of Merari, with twenty of their relatives.

²⁰In addition there were 220 Temple workers whose ancestors had been designated by King David and his officials to assist the Levites. They were all listed by name.

Ezra Leads the People in Fasting and Prayer

²¹There by the Ahava Canal I gave orders for us all to fast and humble ourselves before our God and to ask him to lead us on our journey and protect us and our children and all our possessions.

²²I would have been ashamed to ask the emperor for a troop of cavalry to guard us from any enemies during our journey, because I had told him that our God blesses everyone who trusts him, but that he is displeased with and punishes anyone who turns away from him.

²³So we fasted and prayed for God to protect us, and he answered our prayers.

The Gifts for the Temple

²⁴From among the leading priests I chose Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten others.

²⁵Then I weighed out the silver, the gold, and the utensils which the emperor, his advisers and officials, and the people of Israel had given to be used in the Temple, and I gave it to the priests.

^26-27This is what I gave them: silver - 25 tons 100 silver utensils - 150 pounds gold - 7,500 pounds 20 gold bowls - 270 ounces fine bronze bowls, equal in value to gold bowls

²⁸I said to them, “You are sacred to the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and so are all the silver and gold utensils brought to him as freewill offerings.

²⁹Guard them carefully until you reach the Temple. There in the priests' rooms weigh them and turn them over to the leaders of the priests and of the Levites, and to the leaders of the people of Israel in Jerusalem.”

³⁰So the priests and the Levites took charge of the silver, the gold, and the utensils, to take them to the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Return to Jerusalem

³¹It was on the twelfth day of the first month that we left the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. Our God was with us and protected us from enemy attacks and from ambush as we traveled.

³²When we reached Jerusalem, we rested three days.

³³Then on the fourth day we went to the Temple, weighed the silver, the gold, and the utensils, and turned them over to Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah. With him were Eleazar son of Phinehas and two Levites, Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.

³⁴Everything was counted and weighed, and a complete record was made at the same time.

³⁵All those who had returned from exile then brought offerings to be burned as sacrifices to the God of Israel. They offered 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, and 77 lambs; they also offered 12 goats to purify themselves from sin. All these animals were burned as sacrifices to the Lord.

³⁶They also took the document the emperor had given them and gave it to the governors and officials of West-of-Euphrates Province, who then gave their support to the people and the Temple worship.

The Lord Condemns Insincere Fasting

¹In the fourth year that Darius was emperor, on the fourth day of the ninth month (the month of Kislev), the Lord gave me a message.

²The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men to the Temple of the Lord Almighty to pray for the Lord's blessing

³and to ask the priests and the prophets this question: “Should we continue to mourn because of the destruction of the Temple, by fasting in the fifth month as we have done for so many years now?”

⁴This is the message of the Lord that came to me.

⁵He said, “Tell the people of the land and the priests that when they fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during these seventy years, it was not in honor of me.

⁶And when they ate and drank, it was for their own satisfaction.”

⁷This is what the Lord said through the earlier prophets at the time when Jerusalem was prosperous and filled with people and when there were many people living not only in the towns around the city but also in the southern region and in the western foothills.

Disobedience, the Cause of Exile

⁸The Lord gave this message to Zechariah:

⁹“Long ago I gave these commands to my people: ‘You must see that justice is done, and must show kindness and mercy to one another.

¹⁰Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners who live among you, or anyone else in need. And do not plan ways of harming one another.’

¹¹“But my people stubbornly refused to listen. They closed their minds

¹²and made their hearts as hard as rock. Because they would not listen to the teaching which I sent through the prophets who lived long ago, I became very angry.

¹³Because they did not listen when I spoke, I did not answer when they prayed.

¹⁴Like a storm I swept them away to live in foreign countries. This good land was left a desolate place, with no one living in it.”

The Lord Promises to Restore Jerusalem

¹The Lord Almighty gave this message to Zechariah:

²“I have longed to help Jerusalem because of my deep love for her people, a love which has made me angry with her enemies.

³I will return to Jerusalem, my holy city, and live there. It will be known as the faithful city, and the hill of the Lord Almighty will be called the sacred hill.

⁴Once again old men and women, so old that they use canes when they walk, will be sitting in the city squares.

⁵And the streets will again be full of boys and girls playing.

⁶“This may seem impossible to those of the nation who are now left, but it's not impossible for me.

⁷I will rescue my people from the lands where they have been taken,

⁸and will bring them back from east and west to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, ruling over them faithfully and justly.

⁹“Have courage! You are now hearing the same words the prophets spoke at the time the foundation was being laid for rebuilding my Temple.

¹⁰Before that time no one could afford to hire either men or animals, and no one was safe from enemies. I turned people against one another.

¹¹But now I am treating the survivors of this nation differently.

¹²They will plant their crops in peace. Their vines will bear grapes, the earth will produce crops, and there will be plenty of rain. I will give all these blessings to the people of my nation who survive.

¹³People of Judah and Israel! In the past foreigners have cursed one another by saying, ‘May the same disasters fall on you that fell on Judah and Israel!’ But I will save you, and then those foreigners will say to one another, ‘May you receive the same blessings that came to Judah and Israel!’ So have courage and don't be afraid.”

¹⁴The Lord Almighty says, “When your ancestors made me angry, I planned disaster for them and did not change my mind, but carried out my plans.

¹⁵But now I am planning to bless the people of Jerusalem and Judah. So don't be afraid.

¹⁶These are the things you should do: Speak the truth to one another. In the courts give real justice—the kind that brings peace.

¹⁷Do not plan ways of harming one another. Do not give false testimony under oath. I hate lying, injustice, and violence.”

¹⁸The Lord Almighty gave this message to Zechariah:

¹⁹“The fasts held in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become festivals of joy and gladness for the people of Judah. You must love truth and peace.”

²⁰The Lord Almighty says, “The time is coming when people from many cities will come to Jerusalem.

²¹Those from one city will say to those from another, ‘We are going to worship the Lord Almighty and pray for his blessing. Come with us!’

²²Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord Almighty and to pray for his blessing.

²³In those days ten foreigners will come to one Jew and say, ‘We want to share in your destiny, because we have heard that God is with you.’”

¹²The Lord has given us eyes to see with and ears to listen with.

¹³If you spend your time sleeping, you will be poor. Keep busy and you will have plenty to eat.

¹⁴The customer always complains that the price is too high, but then he goes off and brags about the bargain he got.

¹⁵If you know what you are talking about, you have something more valuable than gold or jewels.