Ezra 4:1-5; Ezra 4:24

Ezra 4:1-5

1 Now the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the {returned exiles} [were] building a temple for Yahweh the God of Israel.

2 And they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the {families}, and they said to them, "Let us build with you. Like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing [to him] from the days of Esarhaddon the king of Assyria who brought us up here.

3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the {families} of Israel said to them, "[It is] not for you but for us to build a house for our God. For we ourselves alone will build [it] for Yahweh the God of Israel, just as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us."

4 Then the people of the land discouraged {the people of Judah} and made them afraid to build

5 and bribed officials against them to frustrate their plan for all the days of Cyrus king of Persia until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Ezra 4:24

24 Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped, and was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.