Ezra 4:1-8

Opposition to the Rebuilding 1When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel,

2they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

3But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.” 4Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. Or and troubled them as they built

5They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Later Opposition Under Xerxes and Artaxerxes 6At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, Hebrew Ahasuerus they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

7And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language. Or written in Aramaic and translated The text of 4:8–6:18 is in Aramaic.

8Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: