69
For we obey your Lord just as you do and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of King Esar-haddon of the Assyrians, who brought us here."
70
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the heads of the ancestral houses in Israel said to them, "You have nothing to do with us in building the house for the Lord our God,
71
for we alone will build it for the Lord of Israel, as Cyrus, the king of the Persians, has commanded us."
72
But the peoples of the land pressed hard upon those in Judea, cut off their supplies, and hindered their building;
73
and by plots and demagoguery and uprisings they prevented the completion of the building as long as King Cyrus lived. They were kept from building for two years, until the reign of Darius.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.