1. So King Darius gave an order to search the records kept in the treasury in Babylon.
2. A scroll was found in Ecbatana, the capital city of Media. This is what was written on it:Note:
3. King Cyrus gave an order about the Temple of God in Jerusalem in the first year he was king. This was the order:“Let the Temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices. Let its foundations be laid; it should be ninety feet high and ninety feet wide.
4. It must have three layers of large stones and then one layer of timbers. The costs should be paid from the king’s treasury.
5. The gold and silver utensils from the Temple of God should be put back in their places. Nebuchadnezzar took them from the Temple in Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon, but they are to be put back in the Temple of God in Jerusalem.”
6. Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and all the officers of that area, stay away from there.
7. Do not bother the work on that Temple of God. Let the governor of the Jewish people and the Jewish elders rebuild this Temple where it was before.
8. Also, I order you to do this for those elders of the Jewish people who are building this Temple: The cost of the building is to be fully paid from the royal treasury, from taxes collected from Trans-Euphrates. Do this so the work will not stop.