Ezra 5:11-13

New International Reader's Version

¹¹ Here is the answer they gave us. They said,

“We serve the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago. The great King Solomon built it and finished it. ¹² But our people made the God of heaven angry. So he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar from Chaldea. He was king of Babylon. He destroyed this temple. He forced the Jews to leave their own country. He took them away to Babylon.

¹³ “But King Cyrus gave an order to rebuild this house of God. He gave it in the first year he was king of Babylon.