Ezra 4:2–10
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2*So they went to see Zerubbabel and the heads of the clans and said, “Let us join you in building the Temple. We worship the same God you worship, and we have been offering sacrifices to him ever since Esarhaddon, emperor of Assyria, sent us here to live.”
3Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the heads of the clans said to them, “We don’t need your help to build a temple for the Lord our God. We will build it ourselves, just as Cyrus, emperor of Persia, commanded us.”
4Then the people who had been living in the land tried to discourage and frighten the Jews and keep them from building. 5They also bribed Persian government officials to work against them. They kept on doing this throughout the reign of Cyrus and into the reign of Darius.f
Opposition to the Rebuilding of Jerusalem
6*At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes the emperor, the enemies of the people living in Judah and Jerusalem brought written charges against them.
7Again, in the reign of Artaxerxes, emperor of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and their associates wrote a letter to the emperor. The letter was written in Aramaicg and was to be translated when read.h
8Also Rehum, the governor, and Shimshai, the secretary of the province, wrote the following letter to Artaxerxes about Jerusalem:
9“From Rehum, the governor, from Shimshai, secretary of the province, from their associates, the judges, and from all the other officials, who are men originally from Erech, Babylon, and Susa in the land of Elam, 10together with the other peoples whom the great and powerful Ashurbanipal moved from their homes and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in the province of West Euphrates.”i
Footnotes
- fdarius: The account of these events is continued at verse 24. The material in verses 6–23 describes events which took place almost a century later.
- garamaic: From 4.8 to 6.18 this book is not in Hebrew, but Aramaic, the official language of the Persian Empire.
- hThe letter … read; or It was in Aramaic and was written in the Aramaic script.
- iprovince of west euphrates: Under Persian rule the land of Judah was part of this large Persian province west of the River Euphrates.
Cross references
- *4.2: 2 K 17:24–41
- *4.6: Es 1:1
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