Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return^(A)

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,^(B) the Lord moved the heart^(C) of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

⁵ Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin,^(K) and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved^(L)—prepared to go up and build the house^(M) of the Lord in Jerusalem. ⁶ All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold,^(N) with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

Opposition to the Rebuilding

4 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building^(A) a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, ² they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon^(B) king of Assyria, who brought us here.”^(C)

³ But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”^(D)

⁴ Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.^{[a](E) 5} They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Later Opposition Under Xerxes and Artaxerxes

⁶ At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes,^[b](F) they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.^(G)

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.

Tattenai’s Letter to Darius

5 Now Haggai^(B) the prophet and Zechariah^(C) the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied^(D) to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. ² Then Zerubbabel^(E) son of Shealtiel and Joshua^(F) son of Jozadak set to work^(G) to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

³ At that time Tattenai,^(H) governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai^(I) and their associates went to them and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?”^(J)