And I say to the king, ‘If to the king [it be] good, letters let be given to me for the governors beyond the River, that they let me pass over till that I come in unto Judah:
‘And by me — I Artaxerxes the king — is made a decree to all treasurers who [are] beyond the river, that all that Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of the God of heaven, doth ask of you, be done speedily:
for I was ashamed to ask from the king a force and horsemen to help us because of the enemy in the way, for we spake to the king, saying, ‘The hand of our God [is] upon all seeking Him for good, and His strength and His wrath [is] upon all forsaking Him.’
and they give the laws of the king to the lieutenants of the king and the governors beyond the river, and they have lifted up the people and the house of God.
And I come in unto the governors beyond the River, and give to them the letters of the king; and the king sendeth with me heads of a force, and horsemen;
And by their hand hath Melatiah the Gibeonite strengthened, and Jadon the Meronothite, men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, to the throne of the governor beyond the River.