King Nebuchadnezzar, to all nations, tribes, and tongues that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians, and he issued a proclamation through all his kingdom, and that in writing, saying,

Thus said Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has given me a command to build Him a house in Jerusalem that is in Judea.

So the king's recorders were called in the first month, on the thirteenth [day], and they wrote as Haman commanded to the captains and governors in every province, from India even to Ethiopia, to a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, and to the rulers of the nations according to their [many] languages, in the name of King Artaxerxes.

So the scribes were called in the first month, which is Nisan, on the twenty-third day of the same year. And [orders] were written concerning the Jews, whatever [the king had] commanded to the local governors and chiefs of the satraps, from India even to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven satraps, according to the several provinces, according to their dialects.

Then the king sent to Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their fellow servants who dwelt in Samaria, and the rest beyond the river, [saying,] Peace; and he said,

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

[May] grace and peace be multiplied [to you] in [your] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

[May] mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.