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Foreigners[a] Want To Help Rebuild the Temple

The enemies of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people had come back to rebuild the temple of the Lord God of Israel. (A) So they went to Zerubbabel and to the family leaders and said, “Let us help! Ever since King Esarhaddon of Assyria[b] brought us here, we have worshiped your God and offered sacrifices to him.”

But Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the family leaders answered, “You cannot take part in building a temple for the Lord our God! We will build it ourselves, just as King Cyrus of Persia commanded us.”

Then the neighboring people began to do everything possible to frighten the Jews[c] and to make them stop building. During the time that Cyrus was king and even until Darius[d] became king, they kept bribing government officials to slow down the work.

Trouble Rebuilding Jerusalem[e]

(B) In the first year that Xerxes was king,[f] the neighboring people brought written charges against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

Later, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and their advisors got together and wrote a letter to Artaxerxes when he was king of Persia.[g] It was written in Aramaic and had to be translated.[h]

8-10 [i] A letter was also written to Artaxerxes about Jerusalem by Governor Rehum, Secretary Shimshai, and their advisors, including the judges, the governors, the officials, and the local leaders. They were joined in writing this letter by people from Erech and Babylonia, the Elamites from Susa,[j] and people from other foreign nations that the great and famous Ashurbanipal[k] had forced to settle in Samaria and other parts of Western Province.[l]

11 This letter said:

Your Majesty King Artaxerxes, we are your servants from everywhere in Western Province, and we send you our greetings.

12 You should know that the Jews who left your country have moved back to Jerusalem and are now rebuilding that rebellious city. In fact, they have almost finished rebuilding the walls and repairing the foundations. 13 You should also know that if the walls are completed and the city is rebuilt, the Jews won't pay any kind of taxes, and there will be less money in your treasury.

14 We are telling you this, because you have done so much for us, and we want everyone to respect you. 15 If you look up the official records of your ancestors, you will find that Jerusalem has constantly rebelled and has led others to rebel against kings and provinces. That's why the city was destroyed in the first place. 16 If Jerusalem is rebuilt and its walls completed, you will no longer have control over Western Province.

17 King Artaxerxes answered:

Greetings to Governor Rehum, Secretary Shimshai, and to your advisors in Samaria and other parts of Western Province.

18 After your letter was translated and read to me, 19 I had the old records checked. It is true that for years Jerusalem has rebelled and caused trouble for other kings and nations. 20 And powerful kings have ruled Western Province from Jerusalem and have collected all kinds of taxes.

21 I want you to command the people to stop rebuilding the city until I give further notice. 22 Do this at once, so that no harm will come to the kingdom.

23 As soon as this letter was read, Governor Rehum, Secretary Shimshai, and their advisors went to Jerusalem and forced everyone to stop rebuilding the city.

Work on the Temple Starts Again

24 (C) The Jews were forced to stop work on the temple and were not able to do any more building until the year after Darius became king of Persia.[m] (D) Then the Lord God of Israel told the prophets Haggai and Zechariah[n] to speak in his name to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. And they did. (E) So Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the priest urged the people to start working on the temple again, and God's prophets encouraged them.

Governor Tattenai of Western Province and his assistant Shethar Bozenai got together with some of their officials. Then they went to Jerusalem and said to the people, “Who told you to rebuild this temple? Give us the names of the workers!”

But God was looking after the Jewish leaders. So the governor and his group decided not to make the people stop working on the temple until they could report to Darius and get his advice.

Governor Tattenai, Shethar Bozenai, and their advisors sent a report to Darius, which said:

King Darius, we wish you the best! We went to Judah, where the temple of the great God is being built with huge stones and wooden beams set in the walls. Everyone is working hard, and the building is going up quickly.

We asked those in charge to tell us who gave them permission to rebuild the temple. 10 We also asked for the names of their leaders, so that we could write them down for you.

11 They claimed to be servants of the God who rules heaven and earth. And they said they were rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago by one of Israel's greatest kings.[o]

12 (F) We were told that their people had made God angry, and he let them be captured by Nebuchadnezzar,[p] the Babylonian king[q] who took them away as captives to Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar tore down their temple, 13-15 (G) took its gold and silver articles, and put them in the temple of his own god in Babylon.

They also said that during the first year Cyrus was king of Babylonia,[r] he gave orders for God's temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem where it had stood before. So Cyrus appointed Sheshbazzar governor of Judah and sent these gold and silver articles for him to put in the temple. 16 Sheshbazzar then went to Jerusalem and laid the foundation for the temple, and the work is still going on.

17 Your Majesty, please order someone to look up the old records in Babylonia and find out if King Cyrus really did give orders to rebuild God's temple in Jerusalem. We will do whatever you think we should.

King Cyrus' Order Is Rediscovered

King Darius ordered someone to go through the old records kept in Babylonia. Finally, a scroll[s] was found in Ecbatana, the capital of Media Province, and it said:

This official record will show that in the first year Cyrus was king, he gave orders to rebuild God's temple in Jerusalem, so that sacrifices and offerings could be presented there.[t] It is to be built 27 meters high and 27 meters wide, with one[u] row of wooden beams for each three rows of large stones. The royal treasury will pay for everything. Then the gold and silver things that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple and brought to Babylonia are to be returned to their proper places.

King Darius Orders the Work To Continue

King Darius sent this message:

Governor Tattenai of Western Province and Shethar Bozenai, you and your advisors must stay away from the temple. Let the Jewish governor and leaders rebuild it where it stood before. And stop slowing them down!

Starting at once, I am ordering you to help the leaders by paying their expenses from the tax money collected in Western Province. And don't fail to let the priests in Jerusalem have whatever they need each day so they can offer sacrifices to the God of heaven. Give them young bulls, rams, sheep, as well as wheat, salt, wine, and olive oil. 10 I want them to be able to offer pleasing sacrifices to God and to pray for me and my family.

11 If any of you don't obey this order, a wooden beam will be taken from your house and sharpened on one end. Then it will be driven through your body,[v] and your house will be torn down and turned into a garbage dump. 12 I ask the God who is worshiped in Jerusalem to destroy any king or nation who tries either to change what I have said or to tear down his temple. I, Darius, give these orders, and I expect them to be followed carefully.

The Temple Is Dedicated

13 Governor Tattenai, Shethar Bozenai, and their advisors carefully obeyed King Darius. 14 (H) With great success the Jewish leaders continued working on the temple, while Haggai and Zechariah encouraged them by their preaching. And so, the temple was completed at the command of the God of Israel and by the orders of kings Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes of Persia.[w] 15 On the third day of the month of Adar[x] in the sixth year of the rule of Darius,[y] the temple was finished.

16 The people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and everyone else who had returned from exile were happy and celebrated as they dedicated God's temple. 17 One hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs were offered as sacrifices at the dedication. Also twelve goats were sacrificed as sin offerings for the twelve tribes of Israel. 18 Then the priests and Levites were assigned their duties in God's temple in Jerusalem, according to the instructions Moses had written.[z]

The Passover

19 (I) Everyone who had returned from exile celebrated Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.[aa] 20 The priests and Levites had gone through a ceremony to make themselves acceptable to lead in worship. Then some of them killed Passover lambs for those who had returned, including the other priests and themselves.

21 The sacrifices were eaten by the Israelites who had returned and by the neighboring people who had given up the sinful customs of other nations in order to worship the Lord God of Israel. 22 For seven days they celebrated the Festival of Thin Bread. Everyone was happy because the Lord God of Israel had made sure that the king of Assyria[ab] would be kind to them and help them build the temple.

Footnotes

  1. 4.1 Foreigners: People from foreign countries who had been captured by Assyrian and Babylonian kings and forced to settle in Palestine.
  2. 4.2 King Esarhaddon of Assyria: Ruled from 681 to 669 b.c. These people may have been brought to Palestine in 677 or 676 b.c., when Esarhaddon invaded Syria.
  3. 4.4 Jews: This was the name given to those Israelites who settled in Judah after returning from Babylonia.
  4. 4.5 Cyrus … Darius: Cyrus ruled 539–530 b.c. (see the note at 1.1); Darius I, known as Darius the Great, ruled 522–486 b.c.
  5. 4.6 Jerusalem: Verses 6-23, which tell about the events of a later period, are placed here because they are also concerned with the problem of stopping or slowing down work on the temple.
  6. 4.6 first year that Xerxes was king: Either the end of 486 or the beginning of 485 b.c. The Hebrew has the king's Persian name “Ahasuerus,” but he is better known as “Xerxes,” the Greek form of the name.
  7. 4.7 Artaxerxes … Persia: Artaxerxes I (465–425 b.c.).
  8. 4.7 It was … translated: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  9. 4.8-10 Ezra 4.8—6.18 was written in Aramaic, instead of Hebrew like most of the Old Testament.
  10. 4.8-10 the judges … Susa: One possible translation for the names and titles.
  11. 4.8-10 Ashurbanipal: King of Assyria 669–633 (or possibly 627) b.c. In Aramaic the king's name is “Osnapper,” but he is better known as Ashurbanipal.
  12. 4.8-10 Western Province: The land from the Euphrates River west to the Mediterranean Sea.
  13. 4.24 year after … king of Persia: 520 b.c.
  14. 5.1 Zechariah: Aramaic “Zechariah son of Iddo.”
  15. 5.11 one of Israel's greatest kings: Solomon (ruled from about 970 to 931 b.c.).
  16. 5.12 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 1.7.
  17. 5.12 the Babylonian king: Aramaic “the Babylonian king from Chaldea,” but Chaldea is another name for Babylonia.
  18. 5.13-15 Cyrus was king of Babylonia: King Cyrus of Persia became king of Babylonia when the Persians conquered the city of Babylon in 539 b.c.
  19. 6.2 scroll: A roll of paper or special leather used for writing on.
  20. 6.3 so that … there: One possible meaning for the difficult Aramaic text.
  21. 6.4 one: One possible meaning for the difficult Aramaic text.
  22. 6.11 driven through your body: A well-known punishment in the ancient Near East.
  23. 6.14 Artaxerxes of Persia: See the note at 4.7.
  24. 6.15 Adar: The twelfth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-February to about mid-March.
  25. 6.15 sixth year … Darius: 515 b.c.
  26. 6.18 Ezra 4.8—6.18 was written in Aramaic, instead of Hebrew like most of the Old Testament.
  27. 6.19 the first month: Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-March to mid-April.
  28. 6.22 king of Assyria: Meaning the king of Persia, because Assyria was now part of the Persian Empire.

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