17
"To Your Majesty Emperor Artaxerxes from your servants, the official correspondent Rehum, the secretary Shimshai, the other members of the council, and the judges of Greater Syria and Phoenicia.
15
and Sheshbazzar took these with him when he and the other exiles went from Babylon to Jerusalem.
16
In the reign of Emperor Artaxerxes of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, Rehum, Beltethmus, Shimshai the secretary of the province, and their associates who lived in Samaria and elsewhere wrote the following letter in protest against the Jews who were living in Judah and Jerusalem:
17
"To Your Majesty Emperor Artaxerxes from your servants, the official correspondent Rehum, the secretary Shimshai, the other members of the council, and the judges of Greater Syria and Phoenicia.
18
"We want Your Majesty to know that the Jews who came here from your other territories have settled in Jerusalem and are rebuilding that evil and rebellious city. They are restoring the marketplaces, repairing the walls, and laying the foundations for a Temple.
19
If this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, the people will stop paying taxes and will even rebel against royal authority.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.