Ezra 7

Ezra and His Mission

¹After these things, during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,[#7:1 About sixty years later in 458 BC]

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

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

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

⁵the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the high priest—

⁶this Ezra came up from Babylon.

Now he was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which the Lord , the God of Israel, had given to them. The king granted him his entire request, because the hand of the Lord his God was resting upon him.

⁷Some of the Israelites and some of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

⁸Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month (it was during the king's seventh year).

⁹On the first day of the first month, he began the ascent from Babylon. On the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem. The good hand of his God was resting upon him,

¹⁰because Ezra had set his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to obey it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Authorization for Ezra's Mission

¹¹This is a copy of the document that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest and scribe, who was a scribe of the words of the commands of the Lord and of his statutes for Israel:

²⁷Blessed be the Lord , the God of my fathers, who put this desire into the heart of the king—to glorify the House of the Lord , which is in Jerusalem!

²⁸He extended favor to me before the king, his advisors, and all of the king's powerful officers. I was encouraged, since the hand of the Lord my God was resting on me. So I gathered the leaders of Israel to go up with me.