This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest, the scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of Jehovah, and of His statutes to Israel:

Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, a scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven: Perfect peace, and now:

And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, issue a decree to all the treasurers beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven, may require of you, let it be done diligently,

i1 [To the chief Musician. Shoshannim. For the sons of Korah. Maschil. A Song of the beloved.] i0 par My heart has been stirred over a good matter; I speak of my works regarding the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Then He said to them, Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of Heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure new and old things.

So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose; and beside him, at his right hand, stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Urijah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah; and at his left hand Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, This day is holy to Jehovah your God; do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the Words of the Law.

Now on the second day the heads of the fathers of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to have insight into the Words of the Law.

These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.

and his brethren, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the instruments of song of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them.

How can you say, We are wise, and the Law of Jehovah is with us? Lo, certainly the lying pen of the scribes has written falsehood.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as Jehovah my God has commanded me, for you to do them in the midst of the land which you are going in to possess.

And it shall come to pass, if you take heed to obey the voice of Jehovah your God, to take heed to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that Jehovah your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.

teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,

Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;

for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

On the first day of the first month he began his journey 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.

and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty rulers. So I was encouraged, as the hand of Jehovah my God was upon me; and I gathered chief men of Israel to go up with me.

And they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for Jehovah had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Then, by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen;

For I was ashamed to request of the king troops and horsemen to help us against the enemy along the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.

Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road.

And He said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have persevered with God and with men, and have prevailed.

Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand.

O Lord, I beseech You, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who delight to fear Your name; and give Your servant success this day, and grant him mercy before this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple which pertains to the house, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy. And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode.

And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. Then they said, Let us rise up and build. So they encouraged their hands for this good work.

And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had broken their counsel, that all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Why, when I came, was no one here? I called and no one answered. Is My hand shortened at all so that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink, because there is no water, and die of thirst.

Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.