The first part of the letter gives authorization from the Persian authorities for Ezra to go with any of his people to Jerusalem and carry out official functions there according to the Law of God.

I make a decree: See the comments at Ezra 4.19.

For Levites see Ezra 1.5.

Who freely offers to go to Jerusalem: In Aramaic freely offers is a masculine participle with a reflexive meaning of “offers oneself” or “desires.” The king specifies “anyone who wishes” or “anyone who is willing” (Darby, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). An appropriate translation is “volunteer” (Revised English Bible).

May go with you: Although the Aramaic verb form for may go is not an imperative, the form indicates permission to go. In some languages it may be expressed as a third person command, for example, “let him go with you.” In French this is expressed as a third person subjunctive (Darby, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Alternatively, it may be stated as giving authorization to go, for example, “I give permission to him to go with you” or “I hereby authorize him to go with you.” Although this clause is stated in the singular in Aramaic, the implication is plural as in Good News Translation. Thus it may be rendered “let them go with you.”

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .