This document is about Artaxerxes (Ezra 7, 8). For other homonyms, please refer to the Artaxerxes document. He is the son of Ahasuerus who appears in Esther (Bible), and primarily appears in Ezra 7 and Ezra 8. He is a different person from King Artaxerxes who appears in Ezra 4. He trusted Ezra (the scholar) and allowed him to return to Jerusalem with the Hebrew people.
Ezra 7:11Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the perfect God of heaven. NowEzra 7:12I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who intend of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you.Ezra 7:13Because you are sent by the king and his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand,
Ezra 7:15and all the silver and gold that you will find in all the province of Babylon, with the free will offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem;Ezra 7:16therefore 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.Ezra 7:17Whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do that according to the will of your God.Ezra 7:18The vessels that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem.Ezra 7:19Whatever more will be needed for the house of your God, which you may have occasion to give, give it out of the king’s treasure house.Ezra 7:20I, even I Artaxerxes the king, 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, requires of you, it shall be done with all diligence,Ezra 7:21up to one hundred talents of silver, and to one hundred cors of wheat, and to one hundred baths of wine, and to one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.Ezra 7:22Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
또한 자신의 술 맏은 관원이었던 느헤미야(총독)을 신임하여 그를 보내 무너진 예루살렘의 성벽을 다시 세우도록 허락하였다.
Nehemiah 2:1The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.Nehemiah 2:2I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”Nehemiah 2:3Then the king said to me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.Nehemiah 2:4I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it.”Nehemiah 2:5The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), “How long will your journey be? When will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time for him.Nehemiah 2:6Moreover I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah;Nehemiah 2:7and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy.” The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me.Nehemiah 2:8Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.Nehemiah 2:9When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
Nehemiah 13:6and I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a room in the courts of God’s house.