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1When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles , were building a temple for the Lord , the God of Israel,[#4:1 Neh 2:19–20; #4:1 Lit the sons of the exile; #4:1 Ezr 1:11; 2:1]
2they approached Zerubbabel and the family heads and said to them, ‘Let us build with you, for we also worship your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time King Esar-haddon of Assyria brought us here.’[#4:2 Alt Hb tradition reads have not been sacrificing; #4:2 2Kg 17:24,27–32; 19:37; Is 37:38]
3But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of Israel’s families answered them, ‘You may have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone will build it for the Lord , the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.’[#4:3 Neh 2:20; #4:3 Ezr 1:1–4]
4Then the people who were already in the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build.[#4:4 Lit people of the land , also in v. 6; #4:4 Lit weakened the hands of; #4:4 Ezr 3:3]
5They also bribed officials to act against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.[#4:5 Neh 6:12–13; 13:2; #4:5 Ezr 5:5; 6:1]
6At the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus, the people who were already in the land wrote an accusation against the residents of Judah and Jerusalem.[#4:6 Est 1:1; Dn 9:1; #4:6 Ezr 3:3]
7During the time of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to King Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated.[#4:7 Ezr 7:1; Neh 2:1; #4:7 Dn 1:4; 2:4; #4:7 Ezr 4:8–6:18 is written in Aramaic.]
8Rehum the chief officer and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter to King Artaxerxes concerning Jerusalem as follows:[#4:8–9 Ezr 4:17,23–24]
11This is the text of the letter they sent to him:
17The king sent a reply to his chief officer Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues living in Samaria and elsewhere in the region west of the River Euphrates:
23As soon as the text of King Artaxerxes’s letter was read to Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they immediately went to the Jews in Jerusalem and forcibly stopped them.[#4:23 Ezr 4:8–10,17]
24Now the construction of God’s house in Jerusalem had stopped and remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia.[#4:24 Ezr 4:1–5; Hg 1:1,14]