4. By whose appointment do you⌃ build this house and this roof, and perform all the other things? and who are the builders that perform these things?
5. Nevertheless the elders of the Jews obtained favor, because the Lord had visited the captivity;
6. and they were not hindered from building, until such time as communication was made to Darius concerning them, and his answer signified.
7. The copy of the letter which Sisinnes, governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, with their companions, the rulers in Syria and Phoenicia, wrote and sent to Darius;
8. To king Darius, greeting: Let all things be known to our lord the king, that being come into the country of Judaea, and entered into the city of Jerusalem, we found in the city of Jerusalem the elders of the Jews that were of the captivity
9. building a house to the Lord, great and new, of hewn and costly stones, with timber laid in the walls.
10. And those works are done with great speed, and the work goes on prosperously in their hands, and with all glory and diligence it is accomplished.
11. Then asked we these elders, saying, By whose commandment build you⌃ this house, and lay the foundations of these works?
12. Therefore, to the intent that we might give knowledge to you by writing who were the chief doers, we questioned them, and we required of them the names in writing of their principal men.
13. So they gave us this answer, We are the servants of the Lord which made heaven and earth.
14. And as for this house, it was builded many years ago by a king of Israel great and strong, and was finished.
15. But when our fathers sinned against the Lord of Israel which is in heaven, and provoked him to wrath, he gave them over into the hands of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, king of the Chaldeans;
16. and they pulled down the house, and burned it, and carried away the people captives to Babylon.
17. But in the first year that Cyrus reigned over the country of Babylon, king Cyrus wrote to build up this house.