And after these incidents of the building of the House.

Artaxerxes That is Darius.

and the king granted him [i.e., King] Darius.

according to the command of the Lord his God upon him as the Holy One, blessed be He, had commanded him. This verse is transposed [its meaning being]: and the King granted him his entire request, according to the command of the Lord upon him. And our Rabbis said (Meg. 15a) that Ezra and Malachi were one and the same.

in the seventh year That is a year after the completion of the Temple.

of Artaxerxes That is Darius.

in the fifth month i.e., the month of Av, for the first of the month of Nissan was the beginning of their ascent from Babylon, and on the first of the month of Av they arrived in Jerusalem.

was the commencement of the ascent the foundation of the commencement of the ascent.

according to the...hand of his God as the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, caused him to succeed, for His hand was good upon him to make him succeed in his way.

For Ezra... Therefore, he went and prospered in his way, because Ezra prepared his heart, etc. He gives a reason for his words.

And this is the interpretation of the writ Heb. פַתְשֶּׁגֶן הַכְּתָב.

and His statutes to Israel and His statutes that He commanded Israel to keep.

the Book of Law [as translated,] the Book of Law.

who has mastered... and Ke’eneth He has mastered it in his hand.

An order is issued by me The authorization emanates from me that whoever of Israel, of the priests, or of the Levites, whose heart prompts him to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.

Because of this Because of this, you are sent from the king and his seven advisors who saw the king’s face.

and his seven advisors and his seven advisors; they are the seven who see the king’s face.

to search out Judea An order to seek and to search out the Jews who are in Jerusalem, to see whether they are engaged in the Torah of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is in your hand.

And to bring and to bring the silver and gold of the king and his advisors that they donated to the God of Israel, to maintain His House, Whose habitation and House are in Jerusalem.

And all the silver and gold and all the silver and gold that you will find in the province of Babylon, together with the donations of the people and the priests that they will donate to the House of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is in Jerusalem; you shall take everything to Jerusalem.

Because of this And because of this, because it is for the service of the Sanctuary, you shall quickly purchase with this money cattle, rams and lambs; sacrifices, meal-offerings, and libations, and you shall offer them up on the altar of the Holy One, blessed be He.

And what pleases you And what pleases you and your brethren (to do) with the rest of the silver and the gold, according to the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, you shall do.

And the vessels And the vessels that are given to you for the service of the Holy One, blessed be He, give in their entirety before the Holy One, blessed be He, in Jerusalem.

And the rest of the necessities and the rest of the necessities that you will require for the House of the Holy One, blessed be He, to purchase, for which you will have to give the money; you shall give from the royal treasury.

And from me—I And from me—I, King Darius—is issued a command and an authorization to all the treasurers who are on the other side of the river of the side of Israel, who receive my taxes from the nations, that anything that Ezra the priest, the scholar of the Law of the Holy One, blessed be He, requests of you, shall be performed quickly. They should not delay his request up to a hundred talents of silver, with which to purchase sacrifices, and a hundred kors of wheat for meal-offerings, and up to a hundred measures of wine for the libations, and a hundred measures of oil to mingle the meal- offerings, and salt for the sacrifices, according to the matter that is stated (Lev. 2:13): “And every meal-offering you shall salt with salt.”

which is not written And salt, regarding which no measure is written, they shall give according to how much is needed.

Whatever is with the authorization Whatever is with the authorization of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His command, shall be done with alacrity, with the seal of the king for the House of the Holy One, blessed be He.

with a seal Aram. אַדְרַזְדָּא, seal in Arabic.

for why should there be For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Therefore, the treasurers shall provide all the needs of the House.

And we are making known to you And we are making known to you that [over] all the priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers, and the Nethinites, who are wood cutters and water drawers for the altar, and those who serve in this House of the Holy One, no man shall be empowered over them to levy upon them any tribute or head tax, but they shall be free from the service of the king.

And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God, which is in your hand and you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God, which is in your hand [and which is] greater than that of the judges and the magistrates who judge all the people beyond the river to the side of Israel, the people knowledgeable in the Torah.

and whoever does not know and the judge who does not know how to judge, inform him of the judgment that he should execute it.

And whoever does not fulfill and whoever does not fulfill the law of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the law of the king promptly, viz. that he delays the law and the judgment.

judgment The judgment shall be inflicted upon him, upon the one who obstructs justice.

whether to be executed [as translated,] whether to be executed.

uprooted whether to uproot him from the world, him, his offspring and his family (לִשְּׁרשִׁי is desraziner in Old French, to uproot).

fined to be punished with money.

or tortured or to torture him with tortures. Until here is the writ of the letter that King Darius gave to Ezra the scribe in order that he convey it to Jerusalem to show it to the priests and the Levites and the king’s treasurers, in order that they persist in performing the commandments and worshiping the Lord in the Temple and keeping the Torah properly.

Blessed be the Lord Ezra wrote this in his Book when he gave thanks to the Holy One, blessed be He.

and his advisers They are his seven advisers mentioned above (verse 14).

according to the hand of the Lord my God upon me as the help of the Holy One, blessed be He, was upon me; and I gathered from the Israelites remaining in Babylon the chiefs of the fathers’ houses and the great men to ascend with me from Babylon.