1. Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
2. the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
3. the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
4. the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
5. the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the high priest—
6. this Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, given by the Lord God of Israel. Because the hand of the Lord his God was upon him, the king granted him all his requests.
7. Some of the children of Israel, along with some of the priests, and the Levites, the singers, the porters, and the temple servants, went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.
8. Ezra arrived at Jerusalem in the fifth month, during the king’s seventh year.
9. From the first day of the first month when the journey from Babylon began, until the first day of the fifth month when he arrived at Jerusalem, the good hand of his God was upon him.
10. Because Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, he was doing so and teaching the statutes and judgments in Israel.
11. Now this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, who was likewise the scribe, the one responsible for the words of the commandments of the Lord and His statutes to Israel:
12. “Artaxerxes, king of kings,“To Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of the God of heaven:“Perfect peace, and so forth.