Study Desk

God put his name there in Jerusalem. May God defeat any king or other person who tries to change this order. If anyone tries to destroy this Temple in Jerusalem, may God destroy that person. I, Darius, have ordered it. This order must be obeyed quickly and completely.

So the Jewish leaders continued to build. Encouraged by the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo, they had great success. They finished building the Temple as the God of Israel had commanded and as Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, the kings of Persia, had ordered.

So all the Israelites who came back from captivity ate the Passover meal. Other people washed themselves and made themselves pure from the unclean things of the people living in that country. These pure people also shared in the Passover meal. They did this so that they could go to the Lord , the God of Israel, for help.

Ezra came to Jerusalem from Babylon. He was a teacher and knew the Law of Moses very well. The Law of Moses was given by the Lord , the God of Israel. King Artaxerxes gave Ezra everything he asked for because the Lord was with Ezra.

From King Artaxerxes, To Ezra the priest, a teacher of the law of the God of heaven: Greetings!

I and my seven advisors send you to Judah and Jerusalem. Go and see how your people are doing in obeying the law of your God. You have that law with you.

I and my advisors are giving gold and silver to the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. You must take this gold and silver with you.

You must also go through all the provinces of Babylonia. Collect the gifts from your people, from the priests, and from the Levites. The gifts are for the Temple of their God in Jerusalem.

Use this money to buy bulls, rams, and male lambs. Buy the grain offerings and drink offerings that go with these sacrifices. Then sacrifice them on the altar in the Temple of your God in Jerusalem.

Then you and the other Jews may spend the silver and gold left over any way you want to. Use it in a way that is pleasing to your God.

Take all these things to the God of Jerusalem. They are for the worship in the Temple of your God.

And you may get any other things that you need for the Temple of your God. Use the money in the king's treasury to buy anything you need.

Now I, King Artaxerxes, give this order: I order all the men who keep the king's money in the area west of the Euphrates River to give Ezra anything he wants. Ezra is a priest and a teacher of the Law of the God of heaven. Do this quickly and completely.

Anything that the God of heaven has ordered for Ezra to get, you must give to Ezra quickly and completely. Do this for the Temple of the God of heaven. We don't want God to be angry with my kingdom or my sons.

Ezra, I give you the authority to use the wisdom you have from your God and choose civil and religious judges. These men will be judges for all the people living in the area west of the Euphrates River. They will judge all the people who know the laws of your God and they will teach those who don't know those laws.

Anyone who does not obey the law of your God, or the law of the king, must be punished. Depending on the crime, they must be punished with death, or sent away to another country, or their property taken away, or put into prison.

Blessed is the Lord , the God of our ancestors. He put the idea into the king's heart to honor the Lord 's Temple in Jerusalem.

God showed his faithful love to me in front of the king, his advisors, and the king's important officials. The Lord my God was with me, and that gave me courage. I gathered together the leaders of Israel to go with me to Jerusalem.

Because God was with us, they sent Sherebiah, a skilled man from the descendants of Mahli (Mahli was a son of Levi, one of Israel's sons.) They also sent his sons and brothers, 18 men in all.

There near the Ahava River, I announced that we all should fast. We should fast to make ourselves humble before our God. We wanted to ask God for a safe trip for ourselves, our children, and for everything we owned.