Letter of the Persian Governor to King Darius and the King’s Reply

Chapter 5

⁶This is the text of the letter that Tattenai, governor of the province of Beyond the River, and Shethar-boze-nai and his colleagues, the officials of Beyond the River, sent to King Darius. ⁷They sent a message to him and this is what was written in it: “To King Darius, greetings, and so forth. ⁸Be it known to the king, that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being rebuilt of hewn stone, and wood is being laid in the walls. The work is being done with dispatch and is going well. ⁹Thereupon we directed this question to these elders, ‘Who issued orders to you to rebuild this house and to complete its furnishings?’ ¹⁰We also asked their names so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information. ¹¹This is what they answered us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth; we are rebuilding the house that was originally built many years ago; a great king of Israel built it and completed it. ¹²But because our fathers angered the God of Heaven, He handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who demolished this house and exiled the people to Babylon. ¹³But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, King Cyrus issued an order to rebuild this House of God. ¹⁴Also the silver and gold vessels of the House of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon—King Cyrus released them from the temple in Babylon to be given to the one called Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed governor. ¹⁵He said to him, “Take these vessels, go, deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the House of God be rebuilt on its original site.” ¹⁶That same Sheshbazzar then came and laid the foundations for the House of God in Jerusalem; and ever since then it has been under construction, but is not yet finished.¹⁷And now, if it please the king, let the royal archives there in Babylon be searched to see whether indeed an order had been issued by King Cyrus to rebuild this House of God in Jerusalem. May the king convey to us his pleasure in this matter.”

Chapter 6

¹Thereupon, at the order of King Darius, they searched the archives where the treasures were stored in Babylon. ²But it was in the citadel of Ecbatana, in the province of Media, that a scroll was found in which the following was written: “Memorandum: ³In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued an order concerning the House of God in Jerusalem: ‘Let the house be rebuilt, a place for offering sacrifices, with a base built up high. Let it be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, ⁴with a course of unused timber for each three courses of hewn stone. The expenses shall be paid by the palace. ⁵And the gold and silver vessels of the House of God which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from the temple in Jerusalem and transported to Babylon shall be returned, and let each go back to the temple in Jerusalem where it belongs; you shall deposit it in the House of God.’

⁶“Now you, Tattenai, governor of the province of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai and colleagues, the officials of the province of Beyond the River, stay away from that place. ⁷Allow the work of this House of God to go on; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this House of God on its site. ⁸And I hereby issue an order concerning what you must do to help these elders of the Jews rebuild this House of God: the expenses are to be paid to these men with dispatch out of the resources of the king, derived from the taxes of the province of Beyond the River, so that the work not be stopped. ⁹They are to be given daily, without fail, whatever they need of young bulls, rams, or lambs as burnt offerings for the God of Heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and oil, at the order of the priests in Jerusalem, ¹⁰so that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of Heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. ¹¹I also issue an order that whoever alters this decree shall have a beam removed from his house, and he shall be impaled on it and his house confiscated. ¹²And may the God who established His name there cause the downfall of any king or nation that undertakes to alter or damage that House of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree; let it be carried out with dispatch.”

¹³Then Tattenai, governor of the province of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues carried out with dispatch what King Darius had written.