The Good of God’s Plan

¹¹Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of Yahweh’s commandments, and of his statutes to Israel: ¹²Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the perfect God of heaven. Now ¹³I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who intend of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you. ¹⁴Because you are sent by the king and his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand, ¹⁵and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, ¹⁶and all the silver and gold that you will find in all the province of Babylon, with the free will offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; ¹⁷therefore you shall with all diligence buy with this money bulls, rams, lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. ¹⁸Whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do that according to the will of your God. ¹⁹The vessels that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰Whatever more will be needed for the house of your God, which you may have occasion to give, give it out of the king’s treasure house.