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

Then the work of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased. So it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so that they could not cause them to cease building until a command came from Darius. Consequently, they sent a letter concerning this matter.

This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, and Shethar-Bozenai and his colleagues, the officials who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king.

This is the document that they sent to him, containing accordingly what follows: “To Darius the king: “All peace.

The Decree of Darius

Then Darius the king issued a decree and a search was made in the house of records, where the treasures were stored in Babylon.

May the God who has caused His name to dwell there overthrow all kings and people who stretch forth their hand to violate or destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. “I, Darius, have issued the decree; so let it be done diligently.”

Completion and Dedication of the Temple

In compliance, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-Bozenai, and their companions speedily accomplished what Darius the king had decreed.

The rebuilding by the elders of the Jews prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built, and finished it, according to the decree of the God of Israel and according to the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

This temple was finished on the third day of the month Adar during the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

The Levites, as well as the priests, were recorded as the chiefs of the fathers’ houses in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua during the reign of Darius the Persian.

Then Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Daniel and the Lions’ Den

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty officials, so that they would be over the whole kingdom,

Then these presidents and officials assembled together to the king, and said to him: “King Darius, live forever!

Therefore King Darius signed the writing, even the decree.

Then King Darius wrote: To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied unto you.

So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

The Prayer of Daniel

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,

The Kings of the South and the North

“Also, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.

God’s Command to Rebuild the Temple

In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

Blessings on a Defiled People

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying:

In the eighth month, during the second year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, saying:

Vision of the Horsemen

On the twenty-fourth day, in the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, during the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo:

A Call for Justice and Mercy

And in the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah.