Ezra 3–4

Worship Restored at Jerusalem

3And when the ^aseventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. ²Then ¹Jeshua the son of ^bJozadak ²and his brethren the priests, ^cand Zerubbabel the son of ^dShealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is ^ewritten in the Law of Moses the man of God. ³Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its ³bases; and they offered ^fburnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings. ^4gThey also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, ^has it is written, and ⁱoffered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day. ⁵Afterwards they offered the ^jregular burnt offering, and those for New Moons and for all the appointed feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and those of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord. ⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. ⁷They also gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and ^kfood, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, to ^lJoppa, ^maccording to the permission which they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Restoration of the Temple Begins

⁸Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, ⁿZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of ⁴Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work ^oand appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, and the sons of ⁵Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

¹⁰When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, ^pthe ⁶priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ^qordinance ⁷of David king of Israel. ^11rAnd they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord:

^s“For He is good,

^tFor His mercy endures forever toward Israel.”

Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

¹²But many of the priests and Levites and ^uheads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.

Resistance to Rebuilding the Temple

4Now when ^athe ¹adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel, ²they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers’ houses, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him ^bsince the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” ³But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, ^c“You may do nothing with us to build a ²house for our God; but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as ^dKing Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” ⁴Then ^ethe people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, ⁵and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of ^fDarius king of Persia.

Rebuilding of Jerusalem Opposed

⁶In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

⁷In the days of ^gArtaxerxes also, ³Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabel, and the rest of their companions wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the letter was written in ^hAramaic script, and translated into the Aramaic language. ⁸⁴Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes in this fashion:

⁹⁵From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions—representatives of ⁱthe Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the people of Persia and Erech and Babylon and ⁶Shushan, the Dehavites, the Elamites, ^10jand the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnapper took captive and settled in the cities of Samaria and the remainder beyond ⁷the River—^kand ⁸so forth.

¹¹(This is a copy of the letter that they sent him)

To King Artaxerxes from your servants, the men of the region beyond the River, ⁹and so forth:

¹²Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem, and are building the ^lrebellious and evil city, and are finishing its ^mwalls and repairing the foundations. ¹³Let it now be known to the king that, if this city is built and the walls completed, they will not pay ⁿtax, tribute, or custom, and the king’s treasury will be diminished. ¹⁴Now because we receive support from the palace, it was not proper for us to see the king’s dishonor; therefore we have sent and informed the king, ¹⁵that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. And you will find in the book of the records and know that this city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, and that they have incited sedition within the city in former times, for which cause this city was destroyed.

¹⁶We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, the result will be that you will have no dominion beyond the River.

¹⁷The king sent an answer:

To Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, to the rest of their companions who dwell in Samaria, and to the remainder beyond the River:

Peace, ¹and so forth.

¹⁸The letter which you sent to us has been clearly read before me. ¹⁹And ²I gave the command, and a search has been made, and it was found that this city in former times has revolted against kings, and rebellion and sedition have been fostered in it. ²⁰There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem, who have ^oruled over all the region ^pbeyond the River; and tax, tribute, and custom were paid to them. ²¹Now ³give the command to make these men cease, that this city may not be built until the command is given by me.

²²Take heed now that you do not fail to do this. Why should damage increase to the hurt of the kings?

²³Now when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem against the Jews, and by force of arms made them cease. ²⁴Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.