8 “May it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goes diligently, and prospers in their hands.
9 “Then we questioned those elders and said to them, ‘Who issued a command for you to build this house and complete this structure?’
10 Also, we asked for their names in order to notify you and to document the names of the men that were their leaders.
11 “Thus they returned us an answer, saying,“ ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are rebuilding the temple that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.
12 Afterwards, our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, so He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and carried the people away into Babylon.
13 “ ‘However, in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, King Cyrus made a decree to rebuild this house of God.
14 The vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and placed them into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king withdrew from the temple of Babylon and had them delivered to the one named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.