19 And I king Artaxerxes have also commanded the keepers of the treasures in Syria and Phoenicia, that whatever Esdras the priest and reader of the law of the Most High God shall send for, they should give it him with all diligence,
20 to the sum of a hundred talents of silver, likewise also of wheat even to a hundred measures, and a hundred firkins of wine, and salt in abundance.
21 Let all things be performed after the law of God diligently to the most high God, that wrath come not upon the kingdom of the king and his sons.
22 I command you also, that no tax, nor any other imposition, be laid upon any of the priests, or Levites, or holy singers, or porters, or temple servants, or any that have employment in this temple, and that no man have authority to impose anything upon them.
23 And you, Esdras, according to the wisdom of God ordain judges and justices, that they may judge in all Syria and Phoenicia all those that know the law of your God; and those that know it not you shall teach.
24 And whoever shall transgress the law of your God, and of the king, shall be punished diligently, whether it be by death, or other punishment, by penalty of money, or by imprisonment.
25 Then said Esdras the scribe, Blessed be the only Lord, the God of my fathers, who has put these things into the heart of the king, to glorify his house that is in Jerusalem: