Ezra 5
1 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.
2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak rose up and began building the house of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, supporting them.
3 At that time Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, came to them with Shethar-Bozenai and their companions. They said, “Who gave you an order to build this house and complete this structure?”
4 Then we asked them, “What are the names of the men who are carrying out this construction?”
5 But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they were not made to stop until the report reached Darius and a reply was sent back about it.
6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-Bozenai, and his companions, the officials in the province Beyond the River, sent to King Darius.
7 They sent him a report, and this is what was written in it: “To King Darius: Complete peace.
8 May the king know that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with large stones, and timber is being laid in the walls. This work is being done diligently and is prospering in their hands.
9 Then we asked those elders, “Who gave you an order to build this house and complete this structure?”
10 We also asked them their names, so that we could inform you and write down the names of the men leading them.
11 This is what they answered us: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago. A great king of Israel built it and completed it.
12 But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away to Babylon.
13 However, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued an order to rebuild this house of God.
14 He also took the gold and silver articles of the house of God that Nebuchadnezzar had removed from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to the temple in Babylon. King Cyrus took them from the temple in Babylon and gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor.
15 He said to him, ‘Take these articles, go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt in its place.’
16 Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From then until now it has been under construction, but it is not yet finished.’
17 Now, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the royal treasury there in Babylon. Was an order really issued by King Cyrus to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem? And may the king send us his decision on this matter.”
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