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Prophets Renew the Work and Officials Inquire

Ezra 5:1-17

5
Chapter 5
1 Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo the prophet prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was with them. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jesus son of Jozadak and their chiefs rose to build the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and with them prophets of God strengthening them. 3 At that time Tattenai the governor beyond the river came to them, along with Shetar-Buznai and their colleagues. And they said to them: "Who gave you the decree to build this house and to complete this altar?" 4 Then just as we said to them: "From whom are the names of the men who are building this cultic?" 5 And the eye of their God was upon the captivity of the Judeans, and they did not stop the work until the account came before Darius the king. And then they placed a memorandum on this. 6 The copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor beyond the river, had sent, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues, the officials who were beyond the river, to Darius the king. 7 They sent a memorandum concerning him, and this is what is written in it: "To Darius the king, all peace." 8 The king should know that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, and it is being built with rolled stones, and timber is still being set in the walls, and work is being done by the overseers and is prospering in their hands. 9 Then we asked your elders, as we had said to them: "What is the reason from the Name for you to build this house, and we asked for this house to complete it." 10 And their names too—please ask them to make known to you what is written in the name of the men who are at their head. 11 And in this way we answered them: "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the house that he built many years ago. A great king of Israel built it and finished it." 12 But because our fathers angered the gods of the heavens, they gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel the Chaldean, and they destroyed this house and exiled its people to Babel. 13 But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, Cyrus the king issued a decree to build this house of God. 14 And the vessels of the house of God too, which were gold and silver, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out from the temple that is in Jerusalem and had brought them to the temple that is in Babylon—King Cyrus had taken them out from the temple that is in Babylon and had given them to Sheshbazzar, his name, who was governor there. 15 And he said to him, "To Manaia, go, take this house to the Temple that is in Jerusalem, and the house of God shall be built on its site." 16 Then Sheshbazzar came; he laid the foundations of the House of God that is in Jerusalem, and from then until now it has been being built and not finished. 17 And now, if it pleases the king, let it be searched in the house of the treasury of the former king that is in Babel. There is a decree that King Cyrus placed to build the House of God that is in Jerusalem, and let the king send his favor concerning it to us.