4. They also asked them this: “What are the names of the men who are building this building?”
5. But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.
6. This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the governors who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king.
7. They sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace.
8. Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands.
9. Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’
10. We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders.