Ezra 4:4–24

⁴So ^athe people of the land ¹discouraged the people of Judah and dismayed them from building,

⁵and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁶Now in the reign of ^1aAhasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

⁷And in the days of ¹Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the ²text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated ^afrom Aramaic.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

⁸¹Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows—

⁹then wrote Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and ^athe rest of their colleagues, the judges and ^bthe lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites,

¹⁰and the rest of the nations, which the great and honorable ¹Osnappar took away into exile and settled in the city of Samaria and in the rest of the region beyond the ²River. ^aAnd now—

¹¹this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him:

“To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men in the region beyond the River, and now—

¹²let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding ^athe rebellious and evil city and ^bare completing the walls and repairing the foundations.

¹³“Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are completed, ^athey will not give tribute, custom, or toll, and it will damage the revenue of the kings.

¹⁴“Now because we ¹are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s ²dishonor, therefore we have sent and made known to the king,

¹⁵that a search be made in the record books of your fathers. And you will find in the record books and come to know that that city is a rebellious city and damaging to kings and provinces, and that they have incited revolt within it in past days; therefore that city was laid waste.

¹⁶“We make known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls completed, as a result you will have no portion in the province beyond the River.”

A Decree Makes the Men Stop Rebuilding

¹⁷Then the king sent an edict to Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the River: “Peace. And now—

¹⁸the document which you sent to us has been ^aplainly read before me.

¹⁹“So a decree has been ¹issued by me, and a search has been made and it has been found that that city has lifted itself up against the kings in past days, that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it,

^20athat strong kings have been over Jerusalem, even rulers in all the provinces ^bbeyond the River, and that ^ctribute, custom, and toll were given to them.

²¹“Now issue a decree to make those men stop, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me.

²²“And beware of being negligent in doing this matter; why should harm increase to damage the kings?”

²³Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force and military.

²⁴Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.