Resistance to Rebuilding the House of God

4 Now the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the ⌊returned exiles⌋[fn] were building a temple for Yahweh the God of Israel. 2 And they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the ⌊families⌋,[fn] and they said to them, “Let us build with you. Like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him from the days of Esarhaddon the king of Assyria who brought us up here. 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the ⌊families⌋[fn] of Israel said to them, “It is not for you but for us to build a house for our God. For we ourselves alone will build it for Yahweh the God of Israel, just as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

4 Then the people of the land discouraged ⌊the people of Judah⌋[fn] and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed officials against them to frustrate their plan for all the days of Cyrus king of Persia until the reign of Darius king of Persia.