⁸ Furthermore, ^(A)I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of that house of God: the full cost is to be paid to those people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, and that without interruption. ⁹ And whatever is needed, bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and anointing oil, as the priests in Jerusalem order, it is to be given to them daily without fail, ¹⁰ so that they may offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and ^(B)pray for the lives of the king and his sons. ¹¹ And I issued a decree that ^(C)any person who violates this decree, a timber shall be pulled out of his house and he shall be impaled on it; and ^(D)his house shall be turned into a refuse heap on account of this. ¹² May the God who ^(E)has caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who ^[a]attempts to ^[b]change it, so as to destroy that house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree; it is to be carried out with all diligence!”

^13 (A)I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.

²¹ “I myself, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, that whatever Ezra the priest, ^(A)the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it shall be done diligently,

²⁹ Therefore I ^(A)make a decree that any people, nation, or population of any language that speaks anything offensive against the God of ^(B)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their ^(C)houses made a rubbish heap, because there is ^(D)no other god who is able to save in this way.”