9. For upon the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.
10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel his statutes and judgments.
11. Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra, the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes over Israel.
12. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra, the priest, perfect scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and to Cheenet.
13. By me is given commandment, that any of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, who desire of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
14. For thou art sent on behalf of the king and of his seven counsellors, to inquire of Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thy hand,
15. and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors freely offer unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,