6. Here is a copy of the letter Governor Tattenai ⌊from the province⌋ west of the Euphrates River, Shethar Bozenai and his group (the Persians west of that river) sent to King Darius.
7. They sent him the following report:To King Darius,We wish you peace and prosperity in everything you do.
8. Your Majesty should know that we went to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The temple is being built with large stones and with wooden beams laid in its walls. The builders are doing an excellent job and making rapid progress.
9. We asked their leaders the following question: “Who gave you permission to rebuild this temple and finish its walls?”
10. For your information, we also asked them for their names so that we would have a record of the men who were their leaders.
11. This was their reply to us:“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple that was originally built many years ago by a great king of Israel.