Ezra 4:1-5

American Standard Version

4 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple unto Jehovah, the God of Israel; ² then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers’ houses, and said unto them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; ^[a]and we sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up hither. ³ But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us in building a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us. ⁴ Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and ^[b]troubled them in building, ⁵ and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.