Ezra 5

The Work Begins Again

1Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo, the prophets, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set about rebuilding the house of God in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them. 3At that time Tattenai, governor of Beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and said, “Who gave you an order to build this house and to finish this structure?” 4Then we said to them, “What are the names of the men putting up this building?”* 5But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report should reach Darius and an answer come back in writing about it.

Tattenai’s Letter to Darius

6This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the officials of Beyond the River, sent to King Darius. 7They sent him a report, and this is what was written in it: “To King Darius: all peace. 8Let it be known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with dressed stone, and timber is being set into the walls. This work is being carried out with diligence and prospers in their hands. 9Then we questioned those elders and said to them, ‘Who gave you an order to build this house and to finish this structure?’ 10We also asked them their names, so that we could write down for you the names of the men at their head. 11This is the answer they gave us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. 12But because our fathers angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and deported the people to Babylon. 13However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued an order for this house of God to be rebuilt. 14And the vessels of the house of God, of gold and silver, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem and carried to the temple in Babylon — King Cyrus took them out of the temple in Babylon and had them handed over to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor. 15And he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and set them down in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” 16Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that time until now it has been under construction, and it is not finished.’ 17Now, if it please the king, let a search be made in the royal treasury there in Babylon, to see whether an order was indeed issued by King Cyrus for this house of God in Jerusalem to be rebuilt; and let the king send us his decision in the matter.”