9. We asked the elders some questions. We said to them, "Who authorized you to rebuild this temple? Who told you that you could make this building like new again?"
10. We also asked them their names. We wanted to write down the names of their leaders for your information.
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.