1. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity built the temple unto the Lord God of Israel,
2. they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chiefs of the fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”
3. But Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and the rest of the chiefs of the fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “This is not for you! It is for us to build the temple of our God, so we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”
4. Then the people of the land demoralized the people of Judah and terrified them while building,
5. and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
6. In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
7. In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia, and the writing of the letter was written in Aramaic, and interpreted in Aramaic.