^1 (A) From the church leader.^[a]

To my dear friend Gaius.

I love you because we follow the truth, ² dear friend, and I pray all goes well for you. I hope you are as strong in body, as I know you are in spirit. ³ It makes me very happy when the Lord's followers come by and speak openly of how you obey the truth. ⁴ Nothing brings me greater happiness than to hear that my children^[b] are obeying the truth.

Working Together

⁵ Dear friend, you have always been faithful in helping other followers of the Lord, even the ones you didn't know before. ⁶ They have told the church about your love. They say you were good enough to welcome them and to send them on their mission in a way God's servants deserve. ⁷ When they left to tell others about the Lord, they decided not to accept help from anyone who wasn't a follower. ⁸ We must support people like them, so we can take part in what they are doing to spread the truth.

⁹ I wrote to the church. But Diotrephes likes to be the number-one leader, and he won't pay any attention to us. ¹⁰ So if I come, I will remind him of how he has been attacking us with gossip. Not only has he been doing this, but he refuses to welcome any of the Lord's followers who come by. And when other church members want to welcome them, he puts them out of the church.

¹¹ Dear friend, don't imitate the evil deeds of others, but follow the example of people who do kind deeds. They are God's children, but those who are always doing evil have never seen God.

¹² Everyone speaks well of Demetrius, and so does the true message that he teaches. I also speak well of him, and you know what I say is true.

Final Greetings

¹³ I have much more to say to you, but I don't want to write it with pen and ink. ¹⁴ I hope to see you soon, and then we can talk in person.

¹⁵ I pray that God will bless you with peace!

Your friends send their greetings. Please give a personal greeting to each of our friends.

Ezra Comes to Jerusalem

7 ^1-6 Much later, when Artaxerxes^[a] was king of Persia, Ezra came to Jerusalem from Babylonia. Ezra was the son of Seraiah and the grandson of Azariah. His other ancestors were Hilkiah, Shallum, Zadok, Ahitub, Amariah, Azariah, Meraioth, Zerahiah, Uzzi, Bukki, Abishua, Phinehas, Eleazar, and Aaron, the high priest.

Ezra was an expert in the Law that the Lord God of Israel had given to Moses, and the Lord made sure that the king gave Ezra everything he asked for.

⁷ Other Jews, including priests, Levites, musicians, the temple guards, and servants, came to Jerusalem with Ezra. This happened during the seventh year that Artaxerxes^[b] was king.

^8-9 God helped Ezra, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month^[c] of that seventh year, after leaving Babylonia on the first day of the first month.^{[d] 10} Ezra had spent his entire life studying and obeying the Law of the Lord and teaching it to others.

Artaxerxes Gives a Letter to Ezra

¹¹ Ezra was a priest and an expert in the laws and commands that the Lord had given to Israel. One day King Artaxerxes gave Ezra a letter which said:

^12 [e] Greetings from the great King Artaxerxes to Ezra the priest and expert in the teachings of the God of heaven.

^13-14 Any of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom may go with you to Jerusalem if they want to. My seven advisors and I agree that you may go to Jerusalem and Judah to find out if^[f] the laws of your God are being obeyed.

¹⁵ When you go, take the silver and gold that I and my advisors are freely giving to the God of Israel, whose temple is in Jerusalem. ¹⁶ Take the silver and gold that you collect from everywhere in Babylonia. Also take the gifts that your own people and priests have so willingly contributed for the temple of your God in Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Use the money carefully to buy the best bulls, rams, lambs, grain, and wine. Then sacrifice them on the altar at God's temple in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ If any silver or gold is left, you and your people may use it for whatever pleases your God. ¹⁹ Give your God the other articles that have been contributed for use in his temple. ²⁰ If you need to get anything else for the temple, you may have the money you need from the royal treasury.

²¹ Ezra, you are a priest and an expert in the laws of the God of heaven, and I order all treasurers in Western Province to do their very best to help you. ²² They will be allowed to give as much as 3.4 tons of silver, 10 tons of wheat, 2,000 liters of wine, 2,000 liters of olive oil, and all the salt you need.

²³ They must provide whatever the God of heaven demands for his temple, so that he won't be angry with me and with the kings who rule after me. ²⁴ We want you to know that no priests, Levites, musicians, guards, temple servants, or any other temple workers will have to pay any kind of taxes.

²⁵ Ezra, use the wisdom God has given you and choose officials and leaders to govern the people of Western Province. These leaders should know God's laws and have them taught to anyone who doesn't know them. ²⁶ Everyone who fails to obey God's Law or the king's law will be punished without pity. They will either be executed or put in prison or forced to leave their country, or have all they own taken away.

Ezra Praises God

²⁷ Because King Artaxerxes was so kind, Ezra said:

Praise the Lord God of our ancestors! He made sure that the king honored the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. ²⁸ God has told the king, his advisors, and his powerful officials to treat me with kindness. The Lord God has helped me, and I have been able to bring many Jewish leaders back to Jerusalem.

The Families Who Came Back with Ezra

8 Artaxerxes was king of Persia when I^[g] led the following chiefs of the family groups from Babylonia to Jerusalem:

Ezra Finds Levites for the Temple

¹⁵ I^[j] brought everyone together by the river^[k] that flows to the town of Ahava^[l] where we camped for three days. Not one Levite could be found among the people and priests. ¹⁶ So I sent for the leaders Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam. I also sent for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were very wise counselors. ¹⁷ Then I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia,^[m] and I told them to ask him and his temple workers to send people to serve in God's temple.

¹⁸ God was kind to us and caused them to send a skillful man named Sherebiah, who was a Levite from the family of Mahli. Eighteen of his relatives came with him. ¹⁹ We were also sent Hashabiah and Jeshaiah from the family of Merari along with 20 of their relatives. ²⁰ In addition, 220 others came to help the Levites in the temple. The ancestors of these workers had been chosen years ago by King David^[n] and his officials, and they were all listed by name.

Ezra Asks the People To Go without Eating and To Pray

²¹ Beside the Ahava River,^[o] I^[p] asked the people to go without eating^[q] and to pray. We humbled ourselves and asked God to bring us and our children safely to Jerusalem with all of our possessions. ²² I was ashamed to ask the king to send soldiers and cavalry to protect us against enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king that our God takes care of everyone who truly worships him, but that he gets very angry and punishes anyone who refuses to obey. ²³ So we went without food and asked God himself to protect us, and he answered our prayers.

The Gifts for the Temple

²⁴ I^[r] chose twelve of the leading priests—Sherebiah, Hashabiah and ten of their relatives. ^25-27 Then I weighed the gifts that had been given for God's temple, and I divided them among the twelve priests I had chosen. There were gifts of silver and gold, as well as the articles that the king, his advisors and officials, and the people of Israel had contributed. In all there were: 22 tons of silver; 100 silver articles weighing 70 kilograms; 3.4 tons of gold; 20 gold bowls weighing over 8 kilograms; and 2 polished bronze articles as valuable as gold.

²⁸ I said to the priests:

You belong to the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and these things also belong to him. The silver and gold were willingly given as gifts to the Lord. ²⁹ Be sure to guard them and keep them safe until you reach Jerusalem. Then weigh them inside God's temple in the presence of the chief priests, the Levites, and the heads of the Israelite families.

³⁰ The priests and Levites then took charge of the gifts that had been weighed, so they could take them to the temple of our God in Jerusalem.

The Return to Jerusalem

³¹ On the twelfth day of the first month,^[s] we left the Ahava River^[t] and started for Jerusalem. Our God watched over us, and as we traveled along, he kept our enemies from ambushing us.

³² After arriving in Jerusalem, we rested for three days. ³³ Then on the fourth day we went to God's temple, where the silver, the gold, and the other things were weighed and given to the priest Meremoth son of Uriah. With him were Eleazar son of Phinehas and the two Levites, Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. ³⁴ Everything was counted, weighed, and recorded.

³⁵ Those who had returned from exile offered sacrifices on the altar to the God of Israel. Twelve bulls were offered for all Israel. Ninety-six rams and 77 lambs^[u] were offered on the altar, and 12 goats were sacrificed for the sins of the people. ³⁶ Some of those who had returned took the king's orders to the governors and officials in Western Province. Then the officials did what they could for the people and for the temple of God.

The Lord Punishes the Guilty