⁴ Take action, for it is your duty, and we are with you; be strong, and do it.”^(A)

¹⁰ Take heed, now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary; be strong, and act.”^(A)

¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees^{(A) 13} and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.^(B)

²⁴ And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,

¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.^(A)

¹⁹ Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. Go and build the sanctuary of the Lord God so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be brought into the house built for the name of the Lord.”^(A)

²³ Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, or wrath will come upon the realm of the king and his heirs.^{(A) 24} We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

²⁵ “And you, Ezra, according to the God-given wisdom you possess, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River who know the laws of your God, and you shall teach those who do not know them.^{(B) 26} All who will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on them, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of their goods or for imprisonment.”

²⁷ Blessed be the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem^{(C) 28} and who extended to me steadfast love before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.^(D)

³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.^(A)

²¹ Here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God, and with you in all the work will be every volunteer who has skill for any kind of service; also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.”^(A)