{} *NOTE: According to Jewish reckoning the fifth month (Ab) of the seventh year of Artaxerxes’ reign was from July 23 to August 21, 457 B.C. After Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem in the autumn of the year, the decree of the king went into effect. For the certainty of the date 457 B.C. being the seventh year of Artaxerxes, see S. H. Horn and L. H. Wood, The Chronology of Ezra 7 (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1953 and 1969); E. G. Kraeling, The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri (New Haven or London, 1953), pp. 191-193; The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1954), Vol. 3, pp. 97-110.