2 then they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the fathers and said unto them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assur, who brought us up here.
3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we alone will build unto the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.
4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building
5 and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their counsel, all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia.
6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote accusations against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
7 And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, unto Artaxerxes, king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue and interpreted in the Syrian tongue.
8 Rehum, the chancellor, and Shimshai, the scribe, wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes, the king, in this sort: