^{15 Ref} and 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,

^{16 Ref} and all the silver and gold that you shall find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill-offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem;

^{17 Ref} therefore 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.

^{18 Ref} Whatever shall seem good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do you after the will of your God.

^{19 Ref} The vessels that are given you for the service of the house of your God, deliver you before the God of Jerusalem.

^{20 Ref} Whatever more shall be needful for the house of your God, which you shall have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure-house.

^{21 Ref} I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done with all diligence,

^{22 Ref} to one hundred talents of silver, and to one hundred measures of wheat, and to one hundred baths of wine, and to one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.