Chapter 5. Then the prophet haggai and Zechariah The son of Ido Prophets Prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah And Jerusalem in the name of the god of Israel who was over them So zerubbabel the son of shiatil and Jeshua the son of josec rose up and Began to build the house of God which is In Jerusalem And the prophets of God were with them Helping them At the same time Tatanai the governor of the region Beyond the river and shethar bosnai and Their companions came to them and spoke Thus to them Who has commanded you to build this Temple and finish this wall Then accordingly we told them the names Of the men who were constructing this Building But the eye of their God was upon the Elders of the Jews so that they could Not make them cease till a report could Go to Darius Then a written answer was returned Concerning this matter This is a copy of the letter that tatani Sent The governor of the region beyond the River and shethar bosnai and his Companions the Persians who were in the Region beyond the river to Darius the
King They sent a letter to him in which was Written thus To Darius the king All peace Let it be known to the king that we went Into the province of Judea to the Temple Of the great God which is being built With heavy stones and Timber is being Laid in the walls And this work goes on diligently and Prospers in their hands Then we asked those elders and spoke Thus to them Who commanded you to build this Temple And to finish these walls We also asked them their names to inform You that we might write the names of the Men who were Chief among them And thus they returned us an answer Saying We are the Servants of the god of Heaven And Earth and we are rebuilding the Temple that was built many years ago Which a great king of Israel built and Completed But because our fathers provoked the god Of Heaven to Roth he gave them into the Hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon The Chaldean who destroyed this Temple And carried the people away to Babylon However in the first year of Cyrus king Of Babylon King Cyrus issued a decree to Build this house of God
Also the gold and silver articles of the House of God which Nebuchadnezzar had Taken from the temple that was in Jerusalem and carried into the Temple of Babylon Those King Cyrus took from the Temple of Babylon and they were given to one named Shesh Baza whom he had made governor And he said to him take these articles Go carry them to the temple site that is In Jerusalem and let the house of God be Rebuilt on its former site Then the same shesh Baza came and laid The foundation of the house of God which Is in Jerusalem But from that time even until now it has Been under construction and it is not Finished Now therefore If it seems good to the king let us Search be made in the king's Treasure House which is there in Babylon whether It is so that the decree was issued by King Cyrus to build this house of God at Jerusalem And let the king send us his pleasure Concerning this matter