19
"I command all the treasury officials in Greater Syria and Phoenicia to provide promptly for Ezra, the priest and scholar of the Law of God Most High, everything he asks for,
20
up to a limit of 7,500 pounds of silver, 500 bushels of wheat, 550 gallons of wine, and as much salt as may be needed.
21
You must be careful to do everything that the Law requires in order to honor God Most High and so make sure that he is never angry with me or with those who reign after me.
22
You are forbidden to collect any taxes from the priests, Levites, musicians, guards, workmen, or anyone else connected with this Temple. No one has the right to impose any burden on them.
23
"You, Ezra, using the wisdom that comes from God, shall appoint administrators and judges to govern all the people in Greater Syria and Phoenicia who live by the Law of your God. You must teach that Law to anyone who does not know it.
24
If anyone disobeys the laws of your God or the laws of the empire, he is to be punished promptly: by death, by fine, by exile, or by some other punishment."
25
Ezra said, "Praise the Lord, the Lord alone! He has made the emperor willing to restore the glory of the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.
26
By God's grace, I have won the respect of the emperor, his counselors, all his Friends, and all his powerful officials.
27
The Lord my God has given me courage, and I have been able to persuade many men to return with me."
28
This is the list of the leaders of the clans and families who had been in exile in Babylonia and returned with Ezra to Jerusalem when Artaxerxes was emperor: