To King Darius. Greetings. Our master the king, may you know that when we came to the country of Judea and entered the city of Jerusalem, we found the elders of the Jews, who had been in captivity, building in the city of Jerusalem a large new house for the Lord, of polished stone with costly beams set in the walls.

So he commanded Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and their associates, and those who were appointed as local officials in Syria and Phoenicia to stay away from the place and to let Zerubbabel, the Lord’s servant and Judea’s governor, and the elders of the Jews rebuild the Lord’s house on its site.