Ezra 4–5

Resistance to Rebuilding the House of God

4Now the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles^a were building a temple for Yahweh the God of Israel. ²And they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families,^b and they said to them, “Let us build with you. Like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him from the days of Esarhaddon the king of Assyria who brought us up here. ³But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the families^c of Israel said to them, “It is not for you but for us to build a house for our God. For we ourselves alone will build it for Yahweh the God of Israel, just as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah^d and made them afraid to build ⁵and bribed officials against them to frustrate their plan for all the days of Cyrus king of Persia until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Resistance to Rebuilding Jerusalem

⁶In the reign of Ahasuerus, at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. ⁷And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic. ⁸Rehum the royal officer and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows ⁹(then Rehum the royal officer, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the judges, the envoys, the officials, the Persians, the Erechs, the Babylonians, the Susians (that is the Elamites) ¹⁰and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and the rest of the province Beyond the River) and now ¹¹this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him:

“To King Artaxerxes from your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River. And now, ¹²be it known to the king that the Jews who have come up from near you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the wall and repairing the foundation. ¹³Now be it known to the king that if this city is built and the walls are finished, they will not pay tribute and toll, and the royal revenue will be reduced. ¹⁴Now since we eat the salt of the palace and the dishonor of the king is not proper for us to see, we send and make this known to the king, ¹⁵so that it may be investigated in the book of records of your ancestors.^e You will find in the book of records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and they have rebelled in its midst from ancient times. Because of that this city was destroyed. ¹⁶We make known to the king that if this city is built and the walls are finished, you will have nothing in the province Beyond the River.”

¹⁷The king sent a reply: “To Rehum the royal officer, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and the rest of the province Beyond the River, greetings. And now ¹⁸the letter that you sent to us has been translated and read before me. ¹⁹And I issued^f a decree, and they searched and found that this city from ancient days revolted against kings, and rebellion and sedition has been made in it. ²⁰Mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem, governing all the province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, duty, and tax has been given. ²¹So now, issue forth a decree that these men stop and this city not be built, until a decree is issued from me. ²²And be careful not to be negligent on this matter. Why should damage grow to hurt kings?”

²³Then when a copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates they returned in a hurry to Jerusalem against the Jews and they stopped them by force and power. ²⁴Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped, and was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Temple Restoration Resumed

5Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah^a and in Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. ²Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak set out and began to build the house of God that is in Jerusalem. And with them the prophets of God were helping them.

³At the same time Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai, and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: “Who issued you all a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” ⁴Then we^b asked them this: “What are the names of the men who are building this building?” ⁵And the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report came to Darius, and then answer was received.

⁶The copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and his associates the envoys who were in the province Beyond the River sent to Darius the king. ⁷They sent to him the report in which was written as follows:^c “To Darius the king, all peace. ⁸May it be known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, the house of the great God. It is being built with stone blocks and timber is being put in the walls. This work is being done with diligence and is making progress in their hands. ⁹Then we asked those elders and said this to them, ‘Who issued forth to you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ ¹⁰We also asked them their names to make them known to you, that we might write down the name of their leaders.^{d 11}And this is the answer they returned to us: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the house that was built formerly many years ago, which a great king of Israel had built and finished. ¹²But because our ancestors^e angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of the Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. ¹³But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon’s reign he issued forth a decree to build this house of God. ¹⁴Also, the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took away from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylonia, King Cyrus removed them from the temple in Babylonia and they were given to Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor. ¹⁵He said to him, ‘Take these vessels. Go put them in the temple in Jerusalem and let the house of God be built on its site.’ ¹⁶Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem. And from that time until now it is being built, but not yet finished.’ ¹⁷And now, if it seems good for the king, let it be investigated in the house of the treasury of the king in Babylonia to see if a decree was issued forth from King Cyrus to build this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send to us his desire on this matter.”