Ezra 5:6-12

Modern English Version

⁶ 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.

⁷ This is the document that they sent to him, containing accordingly what follows:

“To Darius the king:

“All peace.

⁸ “May it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goes diligently, and prospers in their hands.

⁹ “Then we questioned those elders and said to them, ‘Who issued a command for you to build this house and complete this structure?’ ¹⁰ Also, we asked for their names in order to notify you and to document the names of the men that were their leaders.

¹¹ “Thus they returned us an answer, saying,

“ ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are rebuilding the temple that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed. ¹² Afterwards, our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, so He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and carried the people away into Babylon.