1. Now the enemies of Judah and of Benjamin heard that the sons of the captivity were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel.
2. And so, drawing near to Zerubbabel and to the leaders of the fathers, they said to them: "Let us build with you, for we seek your God just as you do. Behold, we have immolated victims to him from the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us here."
3. And Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of the fathers of Israel said to them: "It is not for you to build the house of our God with us. Instead, we alone shall build to the Lord our God, just as Cyrus, the king of the Persians, has commanded us."
4. Therefore, it happened that the people of the land impeded the hands of the people of Judah, and they troubled them in building.
5. Then they hired counselors against them, so that they might argue against their plan during all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of the Persians.
6. And so, during the reign of Ahasuerus, at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and of Jerusalem.