Ezra 5:5-6:5

5But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received. 6This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, the officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius.

7The report they sent him read as follows: To King Darius: Cordial greetings.

8The king should know that we went to the district of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The people are building it with large stones and placing the timbers in the walls. The work is being carried on with diligence and is making rapid progress under their direction. 9We questioned the elders and asked them, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?”

10We also asked them their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

11This is the answer they gave us: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished.

12But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon. 13“However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. 14He even removed from the temple Or palace of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple Or palace in Babylon. Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor,

15and he told him, ‘Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.’

16“So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.” 17Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

The Decree of Darius 1King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon.

2A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it: Memorandum:

3In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits That is, about 90 feet or about 27 meters high and sixty cubits wide, 4with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury.

5Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.