Ezra 4:1-8 ▼

1 NOW when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the captivity were building the temple to the LORD God of Israel,

2 Then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chiefs of the fathers and said to them, Let us also build with you; for we seek your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of Esarhaddom king of Assyria, who brought us up here.

3 But Zerubbabel and Joshua and the rest of the chiefs of the fathers of Israel said to them, You have nothing to do with us to build a house to our God; for we ourselves together will build a house to the LORD God of Israel, as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.

4 Then the Gentiles of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and terrified them that they should not build,

5 And hired objectors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

6 And in the reign of King Akhshirash, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

7 And in the days of Artakhshisht, wrote Bishlam, Mahderat, Tabaiel, and the rest of their companions to Artakhshisht king of Persia; and the letter was written in Aramaic and interpreted in Aramaic.

8 Arkhom the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artakhshisht the king according to custom;