Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the
returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of
Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses
and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God
as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days
of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel,
Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses in Israel said
to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our
God; but we alone will build to the LORD, the God of Israel, as
King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and
made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to
frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even
until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign,
they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and
Jerusalem.
In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithredath and Tabeel and
the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia.
The letter was written in Aramaic and translated. Rehum the
commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem
to Artaxerxes the king as follows: Rehum the commander, Shimshai
the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the judges, the
governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the
Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, and the rest
of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and
settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province
Beyond the River. (This is a copy of the letter that they sent.)
“To Artaxerxes the king: Your servants, the men of the province
Beyond the River, send greeting. And now be it known to the king
that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem.
They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are
finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. Now be it known
to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished,
they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue
will be impaired. Now because we eat the salt of the palace and it
is not fitting for us to witness the king's dishonor, therefore we
send and inform the king, in order that search may be made in the
book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of
the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful
to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from
of old. That was why this city was laid waste. We make known to the
king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will
then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”
The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the
scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in
the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now the
letter that you sent to us has been plainly read before me. And I
made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that
this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion
and sedition have been made in it. And mighty kings have been over
Jerusalem, who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to
whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid. Therefore make a decree
that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt,
until a decree is made by me. And take care not to be slack in this
matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”
Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before
Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in
haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them
cease. Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem
stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius
king of Persia.
