and hired advisers [to work] against them to frustrate their plans during the entire time that Cyrus king of Persia reigned, [and this lasted] even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped. It was suspended until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so they [Tattenai and the others] did not stop them until a report could come before Darius, and then an answer was returned by letter concerning it.

This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of the province west of the [Euphrates] River, and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the officials who were west of the River, sent to Darius the king.

They sent a report to him in which it was written: “To Darius the king, all peace.

Then King Darius issued a decree, and a search was conducted in Babylon in the archives where the treasures [and records] were stored.

May the God who has caused His Name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who attempts to alter this command, so as to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree; let it be carried out quickly and with due diligence.”

Then Tattenai, governor of the province west of the [Euphrates] River, with Shethar-bozenai and their associates carried out the decree with due diligence, just as King Darius had sent and commanded.

And the Jewish elders built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building as commanded by the God of Israel and in accordance with the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

This temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had caused them to rejoice and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, so that he encouraged them and strengthened their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

As for the Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the heads of fathers’ households were registered; so were the priests, during the reign of Darius the Persian.

So Darius the Mede received the kingdom; he was about the age of sixty-two.

It seemed good to Darius [who became king after Belshazzar] to appoint over the kingdom 120 satraps who would be in charge throughout the kingdom,

Then these commissioners and satraps agreed to approach the king and said to him, “King Darius, live forever!

So King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction.

Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations, and speakers of every language who were living in all the land: “May peace abound to you!

So this [man] Daniel prospered and enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, there in front of the canal stood a [lone] ram (the Medo-Persian Empire) which had two horns. The two horns were high, but one (Persia) was higher than the other (Media), and the higher one came up last.

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—

“Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I (Gabriel) arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.

In the second year of Darius the king [of Persia], on the first day of the sixth month (Aug 29, 520 b.c.), the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

On the twenty-first day of the seventh month (Oct 17, 520 b.c., the second year of Darius king of Persia), the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying,

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (Dec 18, 520 b.c.), in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying,

In the eighth month of the second year [of the reign] of Darius [the king of Persia], the word of the Lord came to Zechariah (the Lord remembers) the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (Feb 15, 519 b.c.), which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of [the reign of] Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows:

In the fourth year of [the reign of] King Darius [of Persia], the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev (Dec 7, 518 b.c.).