7. The report they sent to him was written as follows: “To King Darius. “All Shalom!
8. “Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the House of the great God, which is being built with large stones and timber is being set in the walls. Now this work is being done diligently and is succeeding in their hands.
9. Then we questioned those elders, asking them, ‘Who gave you the authority to build this House and to complete this structure?’
10. We also asked them their names in order to inform you, so that we might write the names of the men who were in charge of them.
11. They responded to us saying, ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the House that was built many years ago. A great king of Israel built and finished it.
12. But because our fathers angered the God of heaven, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldean. He destroyed this House and carried the people away to Babylon.