Moff EZRA Chapter 4

◄ EZRA 4 ► ║ ═ ©

4 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple to the Eternal the God of Israel, 2 they came and said to Zerubbabel and the chiefs of the dans, “Let us build along with you, for we worship your God as you do; we have been sacrificing to him ever since Esarhaddon king of Assyria brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel and Joshua and the rest of the chiefs of the clans of Israel told them, “You have nothing to do with our building a house for our God; we will build it ourselves for the Eternal the God of Israel, as king Cyrus of Persia has ordered us.”

4 Whereupon the people of the land thwarted the people of Judah and were a trouble to them as they were building; 5 they hired agents against them, in order to defeat their purpose, all through the reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. 6 In the reign of Xerxes, at the opening of his reign, they wrote a letter accusing the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah. 7 Also, in the reign of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithridates and Tabeel and the rest of their associates sent a despatch to Artaxerxes king of Persia in Aramaic, with a translation. 8 And Rehum the commander, with Shimsai the secretary, laid the following information against Jerusalem before king Artaxerxes. 9 “From Rehum the commander and Shimsai the secretary and the rest of their associates, the magistrates, the generals, the writers, the secretaries, the citizens of Erech and of Babylon and of Susa (that is, the Elamites), 10 and the rest of the nations whom the great and famous Assurbanipal transported and settled west of the Euphrates, etc. 11 Now”--this is a copy of the letter sent to king Artaxerxes from his “servants west of the Euphrates, etc.” 12 --“Now be it known to the king that the Jews who have moved up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem, a rebellious and disaffected city; they are building it, finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. 13 Let the king understand that if this city is built and its walls finished, they will refuse to pay tribute, tax, or toll, and the revenue of the king will suffer. 14 Now, as we are in the royal service, and as it would be wrong for us to see the king injured, we send to assure the king 15 that if the archives of your predecessors are searched, you will find out from the archives that this is a rebellious city, a source of danger to your princes and provinces, and that the Jews have stirred up sedition in this very city from of old. That was why the city was laid waste. 16 We assure the king that if this city is built and its walls finished, you will lose all your territory west of the Euphrates.” 17 The king sent this reply to Rehum the commander and Shimsai the secretary and the rest of their associates resident in Samaria, and the others who were west of the Euphrates: “Greeting, etc. Well now, 18 the letter you sent to us has been translated to me; 19 I have ordered inquiries to be made, and it has been found that from of old this city has risen against kings, and that rebellion and insurrection have been raised within it. 20 And besides, Jerusalem has had powerful kings who have ruled all the territory west of the Euphrates, exacting tribute, taxes, and tolls. 21 So issue a decree that these men are to stop, and that the city is not to be built, until I issue a decree myself. 22 Be careful to lose no time about this, lest the damage increase, to the detriment of the king.” 23 So when the copy of king Artaxerxes’ letter was read to Rehum and Shimsai and their associates, they hurried to the Jews at Jerusalem and stopped them by main force. 24 This put an end to the work on the temple of God at Jerusalem; it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

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