But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease, until the matter should come to Darius, and then answer should be returned by letter concerning it.

Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and their companions, because Darius the king had sent a decree, did accordingly with all diligence.

and that whoever did not come within three days, according to the counsel of the officials and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity.

The children of the captivity did so. Ezra the priest, with certain heads of ancestral houses, after their fathers' houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.