1 Esdras 2:24–30

Wherefore now we do declare unto thee, O lord the king, that if this city be builded again, and the walls thereof set up anew, thou shalt from henceforth have no passage into Cœlesyria and Phœnicia. Then the king wrote back again to Rathumus the storywriter, and Beeltethmus, and Samellius the scribe, and to the rest that were in commission, and dwelt in Samaria and Syria and Phœnicia, after this manner: I have read the epistle which ye have sent unto me: therefore I commanded to make search, and it hath been found that that city of old time hath made insurrection against kings; and the men were given to rebellion and war therein: and that mighty kings and fierce were in Jerusalem, who reigned and exacted tribute in Cœlesyria and Phœnicia. Now therefore I have commanded to hinder those men from building the city, and heed to be taken that there be nothing done contrary to this order; and that those wicked doings proceed no further to the annoyance of kings. Then king Artaxerxes his letters being read, Rathumus, and Samellius the scribe, and the rest that were in commission with them, removing in haste unto Jerusalem with horsemen and a multitude of people in battle array, began to hinder the builders; and the building of the temple in Jerusalem ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of the Persians.