Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which are come up from thee to us unto Ierusalem, into that seditious and wicked city, build the same? And make up the walls of it? And bring it out of the foundation?

Now when king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe and their counsel, they went up in all the haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and forbade them with violence and power.

The Prophets, Haggai, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel.

But the eye of their God came upon the Elders of the Jews, that they were not inhibited, till the matter was brought before Darius, and till there came a writing thereof again.

Let them work in the house of God, that the captain of the Jews and their Elders may build the house of God in his place.

And the Elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo: and they builded, and laid up the foundation, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and after the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.