9. We asked their elders, “Who gave you permission to rebuild this Temple and these walls?”
10. We also asked for their names. We wrote down the names of their leaders so you would know who they are.
11. This is the answer they gave to us: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the Temple that a great king of Israel built. He finished it many years ago.
12. But our ancestors made the God of heaven angry. So God let them be defeated by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He destroyed this Temple. And he took the people to Babylon as captives.
13. “Later, Cyrus was in his first year as king of Babylon. He gave a special order for this Temple to be rebuilt.
14. And Cyrus brought out things from the temple in Babylon. They were the gold and silver bowls and pans that came from the Temple of God. Nebuchadnezzar had taken them from the Temple in Jerusalem. And he had put them in the temple in Babylon.“Then King Cyrus gave them to Sheshbazzar. He had appointed Sheshbazzar as governor.
15. Cyrus said to him, ‘Take these gold and silver bowls and pans. Put them back in the Temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the Temple of God where it was.’
16. So Sheshbazzar came. He laid the foundations of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. From that day until now the work has been going on. But it is not yet finished.”