Ezra Chapter 5
Tattenai’s Letter to Darius
1 The prophets Haggai and Zechariah Ben-Iddo served as prophets to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel. 2 Then Zerubbabel and Jeshua started again to rebuild God’s Temple. His prophets supported them. 3 At that time, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues came and asked, “Who issued a decree for you to rebuild this Temple and restore this structure?” 4 We told them the names of the men that were reconstructing it. 5 But God kept an eye on the elders of the Jews. They didn’t stop them till a report could go to Darius and a written reply could come back.
Ezra 5:1-6
6 Here’s a copy of Tattenai’s letter to King Darius:
7 “To King Darius, all peace.
8 We have gone to the province Judah, to the Temple of the great God, which is being built with huge stones and with beams that are being laid in the walls. This work is progressing with great care and is getting done. 9 We asked those elders who issued them a decree to rebuild that Temple. 10 We asked for their names so we could write down who was in charge and inform you.
11 “They answered, ‘We serve the God of earth and sky. We’re rebuilding the Temple that was built many years ago by a great king in Israel. 12 But because our ancestors provoked the God of earth and sky, he delivered them to Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian. He destroyed that Temple and deported the people to Babylon. 13 But in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this Temple. 14 He also took out the gold and silver utensils from God’s Temple that Nebuchadnezzar had taken to the temple in Babylon. He gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, who’d been appointed governor. 15 He told him to take those items and deposit them in the Temple in Jerusalem and let God’s Temple be rebuilt on its site. 16 Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations. From then till now, it’s been under construction and isn’t finished.’
17 “If it pleases you, conduct a search in the royal treasure house there in Babylon to see if King Cyrus did issue a decree to rebuild that Temple, and send us your decision on the matter.”
Ezra 5:7-17