Ezra 4:2–10

²they approached Zerubbabel and the leaders of the families and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we also worship your God and have been sacrificing to Him ^qsince the time King Esar-haddon of Assyria ^rbrought us here.” ^s

³But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other leaders of Israel’s families answered them, “You may have no part with us in building a house for our God, ^tsince we alone must build it for Yahweh, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.” ^u4Then the people who were already in the land ^vdiscouraged ^wthe people of Judah and made them afraid ^xto build. ⁵They also bribed officials to act against them to frustrate their plans ^ythroughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia. ^za

Opposition to Rebuilding the City

⁶At the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus, ^bcthe people who were already in the land ^dewrote an accusation against the residents of Judah and Jerusalem. ⁷During the time of King Artaxerxes of Persia, ^fgBishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to King Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic ^hand translated. ^ij

⁸Rehum the chief deputy and Shimshai the scribe ^kwrote a letter to King Artaxerxes concerning Jerusalem as follows:

⁹From Rehum ^lthe chief deputy, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues—the judges and magistrates ^mfrom Tripolis, Persia, Erech, Babylon, Susa ⁿ(that is, the people of Elam), ^o10and the rest of the peoples whom the great and illustrious Ashurbanipal ^pdeported and settled in the cities of Samaria ^qand the region west of the Euphrates River. ^r