Part 273 (2/2)

6:13. So then Thathanai, governor of the country beyond the river, and Stharbuzanai, and his counsellors diligently executed what Darius the king had commanded.

6:14. And the ancients of the Jews built, and prospered according to the prophecy of Aggeus the prophet, and of Zacharias the son of Addo: and they built and finished, by the commandment of the G.o.d of Israel, and by the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes kings of the Persians.

6:15. And they were finis.h.i.+ng this house of G.o.d, until the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of king Darius.

6:16. And the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity kept the dedication of the house of G.o.d with joy.

6:17. And they offered at the dedication of the house of G.o.d, a hundred calves, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and for a sin offering for all Israel twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

6:18. And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses over the works of G.o.d in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

6:19. And the children of Israel of the captivity kept the phase, on the fourteenth day of the first month.

6:20. For all the priests and the Levites were purified as one man: all were clean to kill the phase for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and themselves.

6:21. And the children of Israel that were returned from captivity, and all that had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations of the earth to them, to seek the Lord the G.o.d of Israel, did eat.

6:22. And they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of a.s.syria to them, that he should help their hands in the work of the house of the Lord the G.o.d of Israel.

1 Esdras Chapter 7

Esdras goeth up to Jerusalem to teach, and a.s.sist the people, with a gracious decree of Artaxerxes.

7:1. Now after these things in the reign of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, Esdras the son of Saraias, the son of Azarias, the son of Helcias,

7:2. The son of Sellum, the son of Sadoc, the son of Achitob,

7:3. The son of Amarias, the son of Azarias, the son of Maraioth,

7:4. The son of Zarahias, the son of Ozi, the son of Bocci,

7:5. The son of Abisue, the son of Phinees, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest from the beginning.

7:6. This Esdras went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord G.o.d had given to Israel: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his G.o.d upon him.

7:7. And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the children of the priests, and of the children of the Levites, and of the singing men, and of the porters, and of the Nathinites to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.

7:8. And they came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the seventh year of the king.

7:9. 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 Jerusalem according to the good hand of his G.o.d upon him.

7:10. For Esdras had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do and to teach in Israel the commandments and judgment.

7:11. And this is the copy of the letter of the edict, which king Artaxerxes gave to Esdras the priest, the scribe instructed in the words and commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies in Israel.

7:12. Artaxerxes king of kings to Esdras the priest, the most learned scribe of the law of the G.o.d of heaven, greeting.

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