1
Now when the adversaries of Yehudah and Binyamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Yisra'el;
2
then they drew near to Zerubbavel, and to the heads of fathers' [houses], and said to them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as you do; and we sacrifice to him since the days of Esar-Haddon king of Ashshur, who brought us up here.
3
But Zerubbavel, and Yeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' [houses] of Yisra'el, said to them, You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, as king Koresh the king of Paras has commanded us.
4
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Yehudah, and troubled them in building,
5
and hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Koresh king of Paras, even until the reign of Daryavesh king of Paras.
6
In the reign of Achashverosh, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they an accusation against the inhabitants of Yehudah and Yerushalayim.