1. So King Darius gave an order to search the writings of the kings before him. The writings were kept in Babylon in the same place the money was kept.
2. A scroll was found in the fortress of Ecbatana. (Ecbatana is in the province of Media.) This is what was written on that scroll: Official Note:
3. During the first year that Cyrus was king, he gave an order about the Temple of God in Jerusalem. The order said: Let the Temple of God be rebuilt. It will be a place to offer sacrifices. Let its foundations be built. The Temple must be 60 cubits high and 60 cubits wide.
4. Its wall will be in layers that have three rows of large stones and one row of wooden timbers. The cost of building the Temple must be paid for from the king’s treasury.
5. Also, the gold and silver things from God’s Temple must be put back in their places. Nebuchadnezzar took them from the Temple in Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. They must be put back in God’s Temple.
6. So King Darius sent this message to his officials: To Tattenai, governor of the area west of the Euphrates River, to Shethar Bozenai, and to all the officials living in that province. I order you to stay away from Jerusalem.
7. Don’t bother the workers. Don’t try to stop the work on this Temple of God. Let the Jewish governor and the Jewish leaders rebuild it. Let them rebuild God’s Temple in the same place it was in the past.
8. Now I give this order. You must do this for the Jewish leaders building God’s Temple: The cost of the building must be fully paid from the king’s treasury. The money will come from the taxes collected from the provinces in the area west of the Euphrates River. Do these things quickly, so the work will not stop.