Tattenai’s letter to King Darius

1At that time two prophets gave messages from God to the Jews in Jerusalem and other cities in Judah. The prophets were Haggai and Zechariah, who was a descendant of Iddo. They spoke those messages representing God, whom the Israelis worshiped/belonged to, the one who was their true king.

2Then Zerubbabel and Shealtiel led many other people as they started again to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. And God’s prophets Haggai and Zechariah were with them and helped them.

3Then Tattenai the governor of the province west of the Euphrates River and Shethar-Bozenai his assistant and some of their officials went to Jerusalem and said to the people, “Who has permitted you to rebuild this temple and put furnishings in it?”

4They also requested the people to tell them the names of the men who were working at the temple. But the people refused.

5However, God was taking care of the Jewish leaders, so their enemies were not able to prevent the people from continuing to rebuild the temple. They continued to work while their enemies sent a report to King Darius, and asked him what he wanted them to do about it.

6So Tattenai and Shethar-Bozenai and their officials sent a report to King Darius.

7This is what they wrote:
“King Darius, we hope that things are going well for you!

8“We want you to know that we went to Judah Province, where the temple of the great God is being rebuilt. The people are building it with huge stones, and they are putting wooden beams in the walls. The work is being done very carefully, and they are progressing well.

9“We asked the Jewish leaders, ‘Who has permitted you to rebuild this temple and put furnishings in it?’

10And we requested them to tell us the names of their leaders, in order that we could tell you who they were.

11“But instead of telling us their leaders’ names, what they said was, ‘We serve the God who created the heaven and the earth. Many years ago a great king who ruled us Israeli people told our ancestors to build a temple here, and now we are rebuilding it.

12“'But God, who rules in heaven, allowed the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia, to destroy that temple, because our ancestors did things that caused God to become very angry. Nebuchadnezzar’s army took many of the Israeli people to Babylonia.

13“'However, during the first year that Cyrus the King of Babylon started to rule, he decreed that the temple of God should be rebuilt.

14Cyrus returned to the Jewish leaders all the gold and silver cups that had been taken from the temple in Jerusalem and which had been put in the temple in Babylon. Those cups were given to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom King Cyrus had appointed to be the governor in Judah.

15“'The king instructed him to take the cups back to Jerusalem, to the place from which they had previously been taken. He also decreed that they should rebuild the temple at the place where it had been before. So Cyrus appointed Sheshbazzar to be the governor in Judah. He also sent all those things made of gold and silver, for Sheshbazzar to put in the new temple.

16So Sheshbazzar did that. He came here to Jerusalem, and supervised the men who laid the foundation of the temple. And since that time, the people have been working on the temple, but it is not finished yet.’

17“Therefore, your majesty, please order someone to search in the place in Babylon where the important records are kept, to find out whether it is true that King Cyrus decreed that God’s temple should be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then you can tell us what you want us to do about this matter.”