Ezra and His Mission

7 After these things,^[a] during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra the 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 high priest— ⁶ this Ezra came up from Babylon.

Now he was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given to them. The king granted him his entire request, because the hand of the Lord his God was resting upon him. ⁷ Some of the Israelites and some of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. ⁸ Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month (it was during the king’s seventh year). ⁹ On the first day of the first month, he began the ascent from Babylon. On the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem. The good hand of his God was resting upon him, ¹⁰ because Ezra had set his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to obey it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.