King James VersionEzra5

Ezra

1 Then the prophets, Hag­gai the prophet, and Zechari­ah the son of Id­do, proph­e­sied unto the Jews that were in Ju­dah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Is­rael, even unto them. 2 Then rose up Zerub­ba­bel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and be­gan to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God help­ing them. 3 At the same time came to them Tat­nai, gov­er­nor on this side the riv­er, and Shethar­boz­nai, and their com­pan­ions, and said thus unto them, Who hath com­mand­ed you to build this house, and to make up this wall? 4 Then said we unto them af­ter this man­ner, What are the names of the men that make this build­ing? 5 But the eye of their God was upon the el­ders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the mat­ter came to Dar­ius: and then they re­turned an­swer by let­ter con­cern­ing this matter. 6 The copy of the let­ter that Tat­nai, gov­er­nor on this side the riv­er, and Shethar­boz­nai, and his com­pan­ions the Apharsa­chites, which were on this side the riv­er, sent unto Dar­ius the king: 7 They sent a let­ter unto him, where­in was writ­ten thus; Unto Dar­ius the king, all peace. 8 Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is build­ed with great stones, and tim­ber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and pros­pereth in their hands. 9 Then asked we those el­ders, and said unto them thus, Who com­mand­ed you to build this house, and to make up these walls? 10 We asked their names al­so, to cer­ti­fy thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them. 11 And thus they re­turned us an­swer, say­ing, We are the ser­vants of the God of heav­en and earth, and build the house that was build­ed these many years ago, which a great king of Is­rael build­ed and set up. 12 But af­ter that our fa­thers had pro­voked the God of heav­en unto wrath, he gave them into the hand of Neb­uchad­nez­zar the king of Baby­lon, the Chaldean, who de­stroyed this house, and car­ried the peo­ple away into Baby­lon. 13 But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Baby­lon the same king Cyrus made a de­cree to build this house of God. 14 And the ves­sels also of gold and sil­ver of the house of God, which Neb­uchad­nez­zar took out of the tem­ple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the tem­ple of Baby­lon, those did Cyrus the king take out of the tem­ple of Baby­lon, and they were de­liv­ered unto one, whose name was Shesh­baz­zar, whom he had made gov­er­nor; 15 And said unto him, Take these ves­sels, go, car­ry them into the tem­ple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be build­ed in his place. 16 Then came the same Shesh­baz­zar, and laid the foun­da­tion of the house of God which is in Jerusalem: and since that time even un­til now hath it been in build­ing, and yet it is not fin­ished. 17 Now there­fore, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the king's trea­sure house, which is there at Baby­lon, whether it be so, that a de­cree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his plea­sure to us con­cern­ing this mat­ter.