²⁴ And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for and expecting them, and he had invited together his relatives and his intimate friends.

²⁵ As Peter arrived, Cornelius met him, and falling down at his feet he made obeisance and paid worshipful reverence to him.

²⁶ But Peter raised him up, saying, Get up; I myself am also a man.

²⁷ And as [Peter] spoke with him, he entered the house and found a large group of persons assembled;

²⁸ And he said to them, You yourselves are aware how it is not lawful or permissible for a Jew to keep company with or to visit or [even] to come near or to speak first to anyone of another nationality, but God has shown and taught me by words that I should not call any human being common or unhallowed or [ceremonially] unclean.

²⁹ Therefore when I was sent for, I came without hesitation or objection or misgivings. So now I ask for what reason you sent for me.

³⁰ And Cornelius said, This is now the fourth day since about this time I was observing the ninth hour (three o’clock in the afternoon) of prayer in my lodging place; [suddenly] a man stood before me in dazzling apparel,

³¹ And he said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and harkened to, and your donations to the poor have been known and ^[a]preserved before God [so that He heeds and is about to help you].

³² Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is surnamed Peter; he is staying in the house of Simon the tanner by the seaside.

³³ So at once I sent for you, and you [being a Jew] have done a kind and ^[b]courteous and handsome thing in coming. Now then, we are all present in the sight of God to listen to all that you have been instructed by the Lord to say.

³⁴ And Peter opened his mouth and said: Most certainly and thoroughly I now perceive and understand that God shows no partiality and is no respecter of persons,

³⁵ But in every nation he who venerates and has a reverential fear for God, treating Him with worshipful obedience and living uprightly, is acceptable to Him and ^[c]sure of being received and welcomed [by Him].

³⁶ You know the contents of the message which He sent to Israel, announcing the good news (Gospel) of peace by Jesus Christ, Who is Lord of all—

³⁷ The [same] message which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee after the baptism preached by John—

³⁸ How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, ^[d]in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him.

³⁹ And we are [eye and ear] witnesses of everything that He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And [yet] they put Him out of the way (murdered Him) by hanging Him on a tree;

⁴⁰ But God raised Him to life on the third day and caused Him to be manifest (to be plainly seen),

⁴¹ Not by all the people but to us who were chosen (designated) beforehand by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.

⁴² And He charged us to preach to the people and to bear solemn testimony that He is the God-appointed and God-ordained Judge of the living and the dead.

⁴³ To Him all the prophets testify (bear witness) that everyone who believes in Him [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him, giving himself up to Him] receives forgiveness of sins through His name.

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who were listening to the message.

⁴⁵ And the believers from among the circumcised [the Jews] who came with Peter were surprised and amazed, because the free gift of the Holy Spirit had been bestowed and poured out largely even on the Gentiles.

⁴⁶ For they heard them talking in [unknown] tongues (languages) and extolling and magnifying God. Then Peter asked,

⁴⁷ Can anyone forbid or refuse water for baptizing these people, seeing that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?

⁴⁸ And he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (the Messiah). Then they begged him to stay on there for some days.

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7 Now ^[a]after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes [son of Xerxes, or Ahasuerus] king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,

² The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,

³ The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,

⁴ The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,

⁵ The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest—

⁶ This Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the five books of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. And the king granted him all he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.

⁷ And also some of the Israelites, with some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants, went up [from Babylon] to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

⁸ Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king.

⁹ On the first of the first month he started out from Babylon, and on the first of the fifth month he arrived in Jerusalem, for upon him was the good hand of his God.

¹⁰ For Ezra had ^[b]prepared and set his heart to seek the Law of the Lord [to inquire for it and of it, to require and yearn for it], and to do and teach in Israel its statutes and its ordinances.

¹¹ Now this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe [occupied with] the words of the commands of the Lord and of His statutes to Israel:

¹² Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, scribe of the instructions of the God of heaven: Greetings.

¹³ I make a decree that all of the people of Israel and of their priests and Levites in my realm, who offer freely to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you.

¹⁴ For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem according to the instruction of your God, which is in your hand,

¹⁵ And to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, Whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,

¹⁶ And all the silver and gold that you may find in all the province of Babylonia, with the freewill offerings of the people and of the priests, offered willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Therefore you shall with all speed and exactness buy with this money young bulls, rams, lambs, with their cereal offerings and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ And whatever shall seem good to you and to your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.

¹⁹ The vessels also that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, those deliver before the God of Jerusalem.

²⁰ And whatever more shall be needful for the house of your God which you shall have occasion to provide, provide it out of the king’s treasury.

²¹ And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province beyond the [Euphrates] River that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the instructions of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it shall be done exactly and at once—

²² Up to 100 talents of silver, 100 measures of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt not specified.

²³ Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done diligently and honorably for the house of the God of heaven, lest His wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.

²⁴ Also we notify you that as to any of the priests and Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on them.

²⁵ You, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God, which is [in His instructions] in your hand, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people [west] of the River; choose those who know the instructions of your God, and teach him who does not know them.

²⁶ And whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him exactly and speedily, whether it be unto death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment.

²⁷ Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers [said Ezra], Who put such a thing as this into the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,

²⁸ And Who has extended His mercy and steadfast love to me before the king, his counselors, and all the king’s mighty officers. I was strengthened and encouraged, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together outstanding men of Israel to go with me to Jerusalem.

8 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia in the reign of King Artaxerxes:

² Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of Ithamar, Daniel; of David, Hattush

³ Of the sons of Shecaniah; of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men by genealogy;

⁴ Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, with 200 men;

⁵ Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, with 300 men;

⁶ Of the sons of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, with 50 men;

⁷ Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, with 70 men;

⁸ Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, with 80 men;

⁹ Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, with 218 men;

¹⁰ Of the sons of [Bani], Shelomith son of Josiphiah, with 160 men;

¹¹ Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, with 28 men;

¹² Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, with 110 men;

¹³ Of the sons of Adonikam, the last to come, their names are Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, with 60 men;

¹⁴ Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud [Zaccur], with 70 men.

¹⁵ I [Ezra] gathered them together at the river that runs to Ahava, and there we encamped three days. I reviewed the people and the priests, and found no Levites.

¹⁶ Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, Meshullam, who were chief men, and also for Joiarib and Elnathan,who were teachers.

¹⁷ And I sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them to say to Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim [temple servants] at the place Casiphia, Bring to us servants for the house of our God.

¹⁸ And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, named Sherebiah, with his sons and his kinsmen, 18;

¹⁹ And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20;

²⁰ Also 220 of the Nethinim, whose forefathers David and the officials had set apart [with their descendants] to attend the Levites. They were all mentioned by name.

²¹ Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a straight and right way for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

²² For I was ashamed to request of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, The hand of our God is upon all them for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.

²³ So we fasted and besought our God for this, and He heard our entreaty.

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen,

²⁵ And weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God which the king, his counselors, his lords, and all Israel there present had offered.

²⁶ I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels valued at 100 talents, and 100 talents of gold;

²⁷ Also 20 basins of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze, precious as gold.

²⁸ And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord, the vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

²⁹ Guard and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel in Jerusalem in the chambers of the house of the Lord.

³⁰ So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver, the gold, and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem into the house of our God.

³¹ We left the river 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 enemy and those who lay in wait by the way.

³² And we came to Jerusalem, and [had been] there three days.

³³ On the fourth day, the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hands of Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them were Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui—the Levites.

³⁴ Every piece was counted and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at once.

³⁵ Also those returned exiles whose parents had been carried into captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve young bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve he-goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.

³⁶ And they delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s lieutenants and to the governors west of the River, and they aided the people and God’s house.