¹² be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are ^(A)finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.

⁹ Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ^(A)‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’

³ At the same time ^(A)Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: ^(B)“Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?”

^13 (A)He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. ^(B)He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel.

Submission to Authority

^13 (A)Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,^[a] whether it be to the emperor^[b] as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him ^(B)to punish those who do evil and ^(C)to praise those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, ^(D)that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

²² Abstain from every form of evil.

⁵ For we have found this man a plague, ^(A)one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of ^(B)the sect of the Nazarenes.

² And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man ^(A)misleading our nation and ^(B)forbidding us to give tribute to ^(C)Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, ^(D)a king.” ^3 (E)And Pilate asked him, ^(F)“Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, ^(G)“You have said so.” ⁴ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ^(H)“I find no guilt in this man.” ⁵ But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, ^(I)from Galilee even to this place.”

^34 (A)O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that ^(B)kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! ^(C)How often would I have ^(D)gathered ^(E)your children together ^(F)as a hen gathers her brood ^(G)under her wings, and ^(H)you were not willing!