And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things until there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.

then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief of the fathers, and said to them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God, even as you. And we have sacrificed to him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.

But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said to them, You have nothing to do with us to build a house to our God. But we ourselves together will build to Jehovah, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.

At the same time Tatnai, governor of the province Beyond the River, and Shethar-boznai, and their companions, came to them and said this to them Who has commanded you to build this house and to make this wall?

So then we said to them: What are the names of the men who are building this building?

Then we asked those elders and said this to them, Who commanded you to build this house and to make these walls?

And he said to him, Take these vessels and go. Carry them into the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in His place.

And I said to them, You are holy to Jehovah, and the vessels are holy. And the silver and the gold are a free-will offering to Jehovah, the God of your fathers.

And I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to You, my God. For our iniquities have increased over our heads, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens.

And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have sinned against our God and have taken strange women from the people of the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have sinned, and have taken strange women to increase the sin of Israel.

Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As you have said, so we must do.