1. And when the adversaries of Yehuḏah and Binyamin heard that the sons of the exile were building the Hĕḵal of יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl,
2. they came to Zerubbaḇel and the heads of the fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we seek your Elohim as you do. And we have slaughtered to Him since the days of Ěsarḥaddon sovereign of Ashshur, who brought us here.”
3. But Zerubbaḇel and Yĕshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Yisra’ĕl said to them, “It is not for you and for us to build a house for our Elohim, but we alone build to יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, as Sovereign Koresh the sovereign of Persia has commanded us.”
4. And it came to be that the people of the land were weakening the hands of the people of Yehuḏah and troubling them in their building,
5. and hiring counsellors against them to thwart their plans all the days of Koresh sovereign of Persia, even until the reign of Dareyawesh sovereign of Persia.
6. And in the reign of Aḥashwĕrosh, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim.
7. And in the days of Artaḥshashta, Bishlam, Mithreḏath, Taḇe’ĕl, and the rest of their companions wrote to Artaḥshashta sovereign of Persia. And the letter was written in Aramaic, and translated from Aramaic.
8. Reḥum the governor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Yerushalayim to Sovereign Artaḥshashta, thus:
9. Reḥum the governor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions – the judges, and the emissaries, the consuls, the officials, the people of Ereḵ and of Baḇel and of Shushan, the Dehawites, the Ěylamites,
10. and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnapper took into exile and settled in the cities of Shomeron and the rest beyond the River. And now,
11. this is a copy of the letter that they sent him, to Sovereign Artaḥshashta from your servants the men beyond the River. And now,
12. let it be known to the sovereign that the Yehuḏim who came up from you have come to us at Yerushalayim, and are building the rebellious and evil city, and are completing its walls and repairing the foundations.
13. Now let it now be known to the sovereign that, if this city is built and the walls completed, they are not going to pay tax, excise, or toll, and cause the revenue of the sovereign to suffer loss.
14. Now, because we have eaten salt from the palace, it was not fitting for us to see the sovereign’s shame. Therefore we have sent and informed the sovereign,
15. so that search be made in the book of the records of your fathers, and you find in the book of the records, and know, that this city is a rebellious city, and causing loss to sovereigns and provinces. And revolt was stirred up in it since days of old, for which cause this city was destroyed.
16. We inform the sovereign that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, then you have no portion beyond the River.