1. Now after these things, in the reign of Artachshasta Melech Paras (Persia), Ezra ben Serayah ben Azaryah ben Hilkiyah,
2. Ben Shallum, ben Tzadok, ben Achituv,
3. Ben Amaryah, ben Azaryah, ben Merayot,
4. Ben Zerachyah, ben Uzzi, ben Bukki,
5. Ben Avishua, ben Pinchas, ben Eleazar, ben Aharon HaKohen HaRosh;
6. This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a sofer mahir expert in the Torat Moshe, which Hashem Elohei Yisroel had given, and HaMelech granted him all his request, for the yad Hashem Elohav was upon him.
7. And there went up some of the Bnei Yisroel, and of the Kohanim, and the Levi'im, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the Netinim, unto Yerushalayim, in the seventh year of Artachshasta [Artaxerxes] HaMelech [i.e., 458 B.C.E.].
8. And he came to Yerushalayim in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the Melech.
9. For upon the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Yerushalayim, for the good yad Elohav was upon him.
10. For Ezra had prepared his lev to study the Torat Hashem, and to do it, and to teach in Yisroel chok and mishpat.
11. Now this is the copy of the letter that HaMelech Artachshasta gave unto Ezra HaKohen, HaSofer, even a Sofer of the divrei mitzvot Hashem, and of his chukkot for Yisroel:
12. Artachshasta, Melech Melachim, unto Ezra Kohen, Sofer of the law of Elohei Shomayim, Greetings! And now
13. I issued a decree, that all they of the Am Yisroel, and of Kohanim and Levi'im, in my kingdom, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Yerushalayim, go with thee.
14. Forasmuch as thou art sent of the Melech, and of his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim, according to the law of thy G-d which is in thine hand;
15. And to carry the kesef and zahav, which the Melech and his counselors have freely offered unto the Elohei Yisroel, Whose habitation is in Yerushalayim,