Study Desk

So by the seventh month, the Israelites had moved back to their own hometowns. At that time all the people met together in Jerusalem. They were all united as one people.

Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and the priests with him, along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and the people with him, built the altar of the God of Israel. They built the altar of the God of Israel so that they could offer sacrifices on it. They built it just as it says in the Law of Moses. Moses was God's special servant.

So on the first day of the seventh month, these Israelites again began offering sacrifices to the Lord . This was done, even though the Lord 's Temple had not been rebuilt.

So in the second month of the second year after they came to the Temple in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began the work. Their brothers, the priests, Levites, and everyone who came back to Jerusalem from captivity began working with them. They chose Levites who were 20 years old and older to be the leaders in the building of the Lord 's Temple.

The sound could be heard far away. All of them made so much noise that no one could tell the difference between the shouts of joy and the crying.

Many people living in the area were against the people of Judah and Benjamin. These enemies heard that the people who had come from captivity were building a temple for the Lord , the God of Israel. So they came to Zerubbabel and to the family leaders and said, "Let us help you build. We are the same as you, we ask your God for help. We have offered sacrifices to your God since the time King Esarhaddon of Assyria brought us here."

So the enemies began to discourage them and tried to frighten them in order to stop them from building the Temple.

We have a responsibility to the king. We don't want to see this happen, so we are sending this letter to inform the king.

Now, you must give an order for these men to stop work. That order must be given to keep Jerusalem from being rebuilt until I say so.

So a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes sent was read to Rehum, Shimshai the secretary, and the people with them. They went very quickly to the Jews in Jerusalem and forced them to stop building.

So the work stopped on God's Temple in Jerusalem. The work did not continue until the second year that Darius was king of Persia.

So Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak again started working on the Temple in Jerusalem. All of God's prophets were with them and were supporting the work.

We also asked for their names. We wanted to write down the names of their leaders so that you would know who they are.

But our ancestors made the God of heaven angry, so God gave our ancestors to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed this Temple, and he forced the people to go to Babylon as prisoners.

So Sheshbazzar came and built the foundations of God's Temple in Jerusalem. From that day until now, the work has continued, but it is not yet finished.

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.

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.

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.

Give them to the Jewish priests so that they may offer sacrifices that please the God of heaven. Give these things so that the priests may pray for me and my sons.

So Tattenai the governor of the area west of the Euphrates River, Shethar Bozenai, and the men with them obeyed King Darius' order. They obeyed the order quickly and completely.