Ezra 6:19-7:10

English Standard Version

Passover Celebrated

^19 (A)On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. ^20 (B)For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. ^(C)So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. ²¹ It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and ^(D)also by every one who had joined them and separated himself ^(E)from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. ²² And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread ^(F)seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful ^(G)and had turned the heart of ^(H)the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Ezra Sent to Teach the People

7 Now after this, ^(I)in the reign of ^(J)Artaxerxes king of Persia, ^(K)Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, ² son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, ³ son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, ⁴ son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, ⁵ son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— ⁶ this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe ^(L)skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, ^(M)for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

⁷ And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and ^(N)some of the priests and ^(O)Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple ^(P)servants. ⁸ And Ezra^[a] came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. ⁹ For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, ^(Q)for the good hand of his God was on him. ¹⁰ For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it ^(R)and to ^(S)teach his statutes and rules in Israel.