The Book of Ezra

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- Chapter 5 -

(Haggai 1:1–11)

At that time two prophets were giving messages from God to the Jews in Jerusalem and other cities in Judah. The prophets were Haggai and Zechariah, who was a descendant of Iddo. They spoke those messages representing the God that the people of Israel worshiped.

Then Zerubbabel and Jeshua led many other people to begin to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. God’s prophets Haggai and Zechariah were also with them and helped them.

But Tattenai, the governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and Shethar-Bozenai , his assistant, together with some of their officials went to Jerusalem and said to the people, “Who has permitted you to rebuild this temple?”

They also asked the Jews to tell them the names of the men who were working on the temple.

However, God was taking care of the Jewish leaders and they were not stopped by their enemies. They were waiting for King Darius to make a royal decree that would either give them permission and his protection so they could finish their work on the temple, or stop their work completely.

Tattenai’s Letter to Darius

So Tattenai, Shethar-Bozenai, and their officials sent a report to King Darius.

This is what they wrote: “King Darius, we hope that things are going well for you.

We want you to know that we went to Judah, where the temple of the great God is being rebuilt. The people are building it with huge stones, and they are putting wooden beams in the walls. The work is being done very carefully, and they are progressing well.

We asked the Jewish leaders, ‘Who has permitted you to rebuild this temple?’

We also requested them to tell us the names of their leaders, in order that we could tell you who they were.

But instead of telling us their leaders’ names, what they said was, ’We serve the God who created the heaven and the earth. Many years ago a great king of Israel told our ancestors to build a temple here, and now we are rebuilding it.

But God, who rules in heaven, allowed the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, to destroy that temple, because our ancestors did things that caused God to become very angry. Nebuchadnezzar’s army took many of the Israelite people to Babylonia.

However, during the first year that Cyrus king of Babylon started to rule, he decreed that the temple of God should be rebuilt.

Cyrus returned to our leaders all the gold and silver objects that had been taken from the temple and put in the temple in Babylon. Those objects were given to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom King Cyrus had appointed to be the governor in Judah.

The king instructed him to take the objects back to Jerusalem, to the place from where they had been taken. He also decreed that they should rebuild the temple at the place where it had been before. So Cyrus appointed Sheshbazzar to be the governor in Judah. He also sent all those things made of gold and silver, for Sheshbazzar to put into the new temple.

So Sheshbazzar did that. He came here to Jerusalem and supervised the men who laid the foundation of the temple. And since that time, the people have been working on the temple, but it is not finished yet.’

Therefore, your Majesty, please order someone to search in the place in Babylon where the important records are kept, to find out whether it is true that King Cyrus decreed that God’s temple should be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then you can tell us what you want us to do about this matter.”

(Haggai 1:1–11)

Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem. They prophesied to them in the name of the God of Israel.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build God’s house which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them.

At the same time Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, came to them, with Shetharbozenai and their companions, and asked them, “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this wall?”

They also asked for the names of the men who were making this building.

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they didn’t make them cease until the matter should come to Darius, and an answer should be returned by letter concerning it.

Tattenai’s Letter to Darius

The copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shetharbozenai, and his companions the Apharsachites who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king follows.

They sent a letter to him, in which was written: To Darius the king, all peace.

Be it known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is being built with great stones and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on with diligence and prospers in their hands.

Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus, “Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?”

We asked them their names also, to inform you that we might write the names of the men who were at their head.

Thus they returned us answer, saying, “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

But after our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away into Babylon.

But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree to build this house of God.

The gold and silver vessels of God’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king also took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.

He said to him, ‘Take these vessels, go, put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let God’s house be built in its place.’

Then the same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of God’s house which is in Jerusalem. Since that time even until now it has been being built, and yet it is not completed.

Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the king’s treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it is so that a decree was made by Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.”