Ezra 5

1Now the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo 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 to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

3At that time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates came to them and asked, “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?”

4Then we told them the names of the men who were building this building.

5But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report could reach Darius and a written reply be returned about it.

6This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and his associates, the officials in the province Beyond the River, sent to King Darius.

7They sent him a report, and this is what was written in it: “To King Darius: Peace in full.

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 large stones, and timber is being laid in the walls. This work is being carried out diligently and is prospering in their hands.

9Then we asked those elders, ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’

10We also asked them their names, so that we could inform you by writing down the names of the men who are their leaders.

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 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.

13However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God.

14Also the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon—King Cyrus took them out of the temple in Babylon, and they were delivered to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor.

15Cyrus said to him, “Take these articles, go, and put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.”

16So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been under construction, but it is not yet finished.’

17Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon to see whether King Cyrus did issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision on this matter.”