And this is the copy of the letter which the king, Artaxerxes, gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commands of Jehovah, and of His statutes to Israel:
The copy of the letter which Tatnai, governor of the province Beyond the River, and Shethar-boznai, and his associates the officials who were Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king:
And I, Artaxerxes the king, set out 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 ask of you, it shall be done exactly,
this Ezra went up from Babylon. And he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which Jehovah the God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all he asked, according to the hand of Jehovah his God on him.
But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven before men; for you do not enter, nor do you allow those entering to go in.