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 and began again to build the house of God in Jerusalem. 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 colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you an order to build this house and to finish this structure?”

4We also asked them, “What are the names of the men who are putting up this building?” 5But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and the officials did not stop them until a report could reach Darius and a written answer about it could come back.

6This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues, the officials in the province Beyond the River, sent to King Darius. 7The report they sent him read as follows: “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 large stones, and timbers are being laid in the walls. The work is being carried out diligently and is making good progress in their hands.

9We asked those elders, “Who gave you an order 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 completed. 12But because our ancestors made the God of heaven angry, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and took the people into exile in Babylon.

13However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. 14King Cyrus also took out of the temple in Babylon the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon. He handed them over to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor. 15Cyrus told him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site.”

16So 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 still not finished.’ 17Now, if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives in Babylon to see whether King Cyrus really issued a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision on this matter.”