To Darius the king:

All peace.

⁸ Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judea, to the ^[a]temple of the great God, which is being built with ^[b]heavy stones, and timber is being laid in the walls; and this work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands.

⁹ Then we asked those elders, and spoke thus to them: ^(A)“Who commanded you to build this temple and to finish these walls?” ¹⁰ We also asked them their names to inform you, that we might write the names of the men who were chief among them.

¹¹ And thus they returned us an answer, saying: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the ^[c]temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built ^(B)and completed. ¹² But ^(C)because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of ^(D)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and ^(E)carried the people away to Babylon. ¹³ However, in the first year of ^(F)Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to build this ^[d]house of God. ¹⁴ Also, ^(G)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 ^(H)one named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor. ¹⁵ 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.’ ¹⁶ Then the same Sheshbazzar came and ^(I)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 ^(J)it is not finished.”

¹⁷ Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, ^(K)let a search be made in the king’s treasure house, which is there in Babylon, whether it is so that a 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.