Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 121
5:4–6:2
CHRONICLES–EZRA–NEHEMIAH
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and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues soon arrived in Jerusalem and
asked, “Who gave you permission to rebuild this Temple and restore this
structure?” They also asked for the names of all the men working on the
Temple. But because their God was watching over them, the leaders of the
Jews were not prevented from building until a report was sent to Darius
and he returned his decision.
This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor, Shethar-bozenai,
and the other officials of the province west of the Euphrates River sent to
King Darius:
“To King Darius. Greetings.
“The king should know that we went to the construction site of the
Temple of the great God in the province of Judah. It is being rebuilt
with specially prepared stones, and timber is being laid in its walls.
The work is going forward with great energy and success.
“We asked the leaders, ‘Who gave you permission to rebuild this
Temple and restore this structure?’ And we demanded their names
so that we could tell you who the leaders were.
“This was their answer: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven
and earth, and we are rebuilding the Temple that was built here many
years ago by a great king of Israel. But because our ancestors angered
the God of heaven, he abandoned them to King Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon, who destroyed this Temple and exiled the people to
Babylonia. However, King Cyrus of Babylon, during the first year of
his reign, issued a decree that the Temple of God should be rebuilt.
King Cyrus returned the gold and silver cups that Nebuchadnezzar
had taken from the Temple of God in Jerusalem and had placed in
the temple of Babylon. These cups were taken from that temple and
presented to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom King Cyrus appointed
as governor of Judah. The king instructed him to return the cups to
their place in Jerusalem and to rebuild the Temple of God there on its
original site. So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the
Temple of God in Jerusalem. The people have been working on it ever
since, though it is not yet completed.’
“Therefore, if it pleases the king, we request that a search be made
in the royal archives of Babylon to discover whether King Cyrus ever
issued a decree to rebuild God’s Temple in Jerusalem. And then let the
king send us his decision in this matter.”
So King Darius issued orders that a search be made in the Babylonian
archives, which were stored in the treasury. But it was at the fortress at
Ecbatana in the province of Media that a scroll was found. This is what
it said:
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