1. The people of Judah and Benjamin had enemies. They heard that the returned captives were building a Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel.
2. So the enemies came to Zerubbabel and the leaders of the families. The enemies said, “Let us help you build. We are like you. We want to worship your God. We have been offering sacrifices to him since the time of Esarhaddon. He was king of Assyria, and he brought us here.”
3. But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the leaders of Israel answered, “No. You people will not help us build a Temple to our God. We will build it ourselves. It is for the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us to do.”
4. Then the people around them tried to discourage the people of Judah. They tried to make them afraid to build.
5. Their enemies hired others to delay the building plans. This went on during the time Cyrus was king of Persia. And it continued to the time Darius was king of Persia.
6. When Xerxes became king, those enemies wrote a letter against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
7. Later Artaxerxes became king of Persia. Then Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and those with them wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in the Aramaic language.
8. Also Rehum the governor and Shimshai the governor’s assistant wrote a letter. It was to Artaxerxes the king. And it was against Jerusalem. It said:
9. This letter is from Rehum the governor, Shimshai the assistant and others. They are judges and important officers. They are over the men who came from Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon. They are over the Elamite people of Susa.
10. And they are over those whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal forced out of their countries. He forced them to move and settle in the city of Samaria. And he forced them to settle in other places west of the Euphrates River.
11. (This is a copy of the letter they sent to Artaxerxes:)To King Artaxerxes.From your servants who live west of the Euphrates River.