²³ As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates,^(A) they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.

²⁴ Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius^(A) king of Persia.