Ezra 4–5

Chapter 4

Adversaries Hinder the Work

¹Now when ^athe enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that ^bthe people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel,

²they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; ^aand we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of ^bEsarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.”

³But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “^aYou have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, ^bas King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴Then ^athe people of the land ¹discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened 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 deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the ²River. ^aNow

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 finishing 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 finished, ^athey will not pay 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 dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king,

¹⁵so that a search may be made in the record books of your fathers. And you will discover in the record books and learn 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 inform the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls finished, as a result you will have no possession in the province beyond the River.”

The King Replies and Work Stops

¹⁷Then the king sent an answer 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 ^1atranslated and read before me.

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

^20athat mighty kings have ¹ruled over Jerusalem, governing all the provinces ^bbeyond the River, and that ^ctribute, custom and toll were paid to them.

²¹“So, now issue a decree to make these men stop work, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me.

²²“Beware of being negligent in carrying out this matter; why should damage increase to the detriment of 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 of arms.

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

Chapter 5

Temple Work Resumed

¹When the prophets, ^aHaggai the prophet and ^bZechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them,

²then ^aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and ^bthe prophets of God were with them supporting them.

³At that time ^aTattenai, the governor of the province beyond the ¹River, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues came to them and spoke to them thus, “^bWho issued you a decree to rebuild this ²temple and to finish this structure?”

^4aThen we told them accordingly what the names of the men were who were reconstructing this building.

⁵But ^athe eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report could come to Darius, and then a written reply be returned concerning it.

Adversaries Write to Darius

⁶This is the copy of the letter which ^aTattenai, the governor of the province beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and his colleagues ^bthe officials, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king.

⁷They sent a report to him in which it was written thus: “To Darius the king, all peace.

⁸“Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is being built with huge stones, and ¹beams are being laid in the walls; and this work is going on with great care and is succeeding in their hands.

⁹“Then we asked those elders and said to them thus, ‘Who issued you a decree to rebuild this temple and to finish this structure?’

¹⁰“We also asked them their names so as to inform you, and that we might write down the names of the men who were at their head.

¹¹“Thus they ¹answered us, saying, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, ^awhich a great king of Israel built and finished.

¹²‘But ^abecause our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, ^bHe gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.

¹³‘However, ^ain the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus ^bissued a decree to rebuild this house of God.

¹⁴‘Also ^athe gold and silver utensils of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple ¹in Jerusalem, and brought them to the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took from the temple of Babylon and they were given to one ^bwhose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor.

¹⁵‘He said to him, “Take these utensils, go and deposit them in the temple ¹in Jerusalem and let the house of God be rebuilt in its place.”

¹⁶‘Then that Sheshbazzar came and ^alaid the foundations of the house of God ¹in Jerusalem; and from then until now it has been under construction and it is ^bnot yet completed.’

¹⁷“Now if it pleases the king, ^alet a search be conducted in the king’s treasure house, which is there in Babylon, if it be that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to rebuild this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send to us his decision concerning this matter.”