Ezra 5 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
520 BC, the second year of the Persian king Darius the Great
Location
Jerusalem, a small ruined city in the Persian province of Beyond the River, which covered Syria, Phoenicia and Judah
Audience
Jews living in Judah generations later, under continuing Persian rule, who needed to know that their temple and their community had legal standing
Situation
The prophets Haggai and Zechariah stir the returned exiles to restart work on the temple after roughly sixteen years of standstill. The regional Persian governor Tattenai arrives, questions who authorised the building, and sends a formal letter to Darius asking him to check the royal archives.
Key Background
The Persian empire ran on written records, and a provincial governor who suspected an illegal project would normally halt it and report upward. Tattenai does something milder, letting the work continue while the paperwork is checked, which was possible because rebuilding local temples fitted Persian policy of supporting the religions of subject peoples. Much of Ezra 4 through 6 is written in Aramaic, the working language of Persian government correspondence, which gives these chapters the flavour of an official file.
Now the and son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak got up and started rebuilding the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were right there with them, supporting them.
Right away, governor of the region west of the Euphrates, along with Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, came to them and asked, "Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and finish this structure?"
They also asked them, "What are the names of the men who are doing this construction?"
But the of their was the elders of the Jews, and they weren't stopped until a report could go to Darius and a written reply come back about this matter.
This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of the region west of the Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and his associates — the officials in the region west of the Euphrates — sent to King Darius.
They sent him a report, and this is what was written in it: "To King Darius — complete
"The king should know that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the It's being built with large stones, and timbers are being set in the walls. The work is being done with care and is making good progress under their hands."
"We questioned the elders and asked them, 'Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and finish this structure?'"
"We also asked their names so we could write them down and let you know who their leaders are."
"This is the answer they gave us: 'We are servants of the of and and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago — one that a of built and completed.'"
"'But because our ancestors the God of heaven, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, who destroyed this house and deported the people to Babylon.'"
"'But in the first year of of issued a decree to rebuild this house of God.'"
"'Also, the gold and silver items from the house of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon — King Cyrus took those out of the temple in Babylon and gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed as
"'He told him: Take these items, go put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site.'"
"'Then that Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From then until now it has been under construction, but it's not finished yet.'"
"So now, if the king agrees, let a search be done in the there in Babylon to find out whether King Cyrus really did issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision on this matter."