3 But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel, said unto them, You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has 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 counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, 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 unto him an accusation 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 Aramaic, and set forth in the Aramaic language.
8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this fashion:
9 Then wrote Rehum the commander, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions; the judges, the governors , the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, and the Elamites,