1 Esdras 2:23-25

Revised Standard Version

²³ and that the Jews were rebels and kept setting up blockades in it from of old. That is why this city was laid waste. ²⁴ Therefore we now make known to you, O lord and king, that if this city is built and its walls finished, you will no longer have access to Coelesyria and Phoenic′ia.”

²⁵ Then the king, in reply to Rehum the recorder and Beltethmus and Shim′shai the scribe and the others associated with them and living in Samar′ia and Syria and Phoenic′ia, wrote as follows: