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1The enemies of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people had come back to rebuild the temple of the Lord God of Israel.
2So they went to Zerubbabel and to the family leaders and said, “Let us help! Ever since King Esarhaddon of Assyria brought us here, we have worshiped your God and offered sacrifices to him.”[#2 K 17.24-41.; #4.2 Ruled from 681 to 669 b.c. These people may have been brought to Palestine in 677 or 676 b.c. , when Esarhaddon invaded Syria.]
3But Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the family leaders answered, “You cannot take part in building a temple for the Lord our God! We will build it ourselves, just as King Cyrus of Persia commanded us.”
4Then the neighboring people began to do everything possible to frighten the Jews and to make them stop building.[#4.4 This was the name given to those Israelites who settled in Judah after returning from Babylonia.]
5During the time that Cyrus was king and even until Darius became king, they kept bribing government officials to slow down the work.[#4.5 Cyrus ruled 539–530 b.c. (see the note at 1.1); Darius I, known as Darius the Great, ruled 522–486 b.c.]
6In the first year that Xerxes was king, the neighboring people brought written charges against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.[#Es 1.1,2.; #4.6 Either the end of 486 or the beginning of 485 b.c. The Hebrew has the king's Persian name “Ahasuerus,” but he is better known as “Xerxes,” the Greek form of the name.]
7Later, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and their advisors got together and wrote a letter to Artaxerxes when he was king of Persia. It was written in Aramaic and had to be translated.[#4.7 Artaxerxes I (465–425 b.c. ).; #4.7 One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.]
8-9-10A letter was also written to Artaxerxes about Jerusalem by Governor Rehum, Secretary Shimshai, and their advisors, including the judges, the governors, the officials, and the local leaders. They were joined in writing this letter by people from Erech and Babylonia, the Elamites from Susa, and people from other foreign nations that the great and famous Ashurbanipal had forced to settle in Samaria and other parts of Western Province.[#4.8-10 Ezra 4.8—6.18 was written in Aramaic, instead of Hebrew like most of the Old Testament.; #4.8-10 One possible translation for the names and titles.; #4.8-10 King of Assyria 669–633 (or possibly 627) b.c. In Aramaic the king's name is “Osnapper,” but he is better known as Ashurbanipal.; #4.8-10 The land from the Euphrates River west to the Mediterranean Sea.]
11This letter said:
17King Artaxerxes answered:
23As soon as this letter was read, Governor Rehum, Secretary Shimshai, and their advisors went to Jerusalem and forced everyone to stop rebuilding the city.
24The Jews were forced to stop work on the temple and were not able to do any more building until the year after Darius became king of Persia.[#Hg 1.1; Zec 1.1.; #4.24 520 b.c.]