11. Here is the answer they gave us. They said, "We serve the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago. The great King Solomon built it and finished it.
12. But our people made the God of heaven angry. So he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar from Chaldea. He was king of Babylonia. He destroyed this temple. He forced the Jews to leave their own country. He took them away to Babylonia.
13. "But King Cyrus gave an order to rebuild this house of God. He gave it in the first year he was king of Babylonia.
14. He even removed some gold and silver articles from the temple of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had brought them there from the house of God in Jerusalem. He had taken them to the temple in Babylon. "Then King Cyrus brought them out. He gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar. Cyrus had appointed him as governor.
15. He told him, 'Take these articles with you. Go and put them in the temple in Jerusalem. Rebuild the house of God in the same place where it stood before.'
16. "So Sheshbazzar made the trip to Jerusalem. He laid the foundations of the house of God there. From that day until now the people have been working on it. But they haven't finished it yet."