1In the second year of the reign of Darius, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews in Judea and Jerusalem in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, which was over them.
2Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak arose and began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, with the prophets of the Lord being with them and helping them.
3At that same time, Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabouzanes, and their associates came to them and said to them,
4“By whose order are you building this house and this roof and completing all these other things? And who are the builders completing these things?”
5But the elders of the Jews from the captivity had the grace of oversight from the Lord,
6and they were not hindered from building until a report about them could be sent to Darius and a reply received.
7A copy of the letter that Sisinnes, the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabouzanes and their associates, the leaders in Syria and Phoenicia, wrote and sent to Darius: To King Darius, greetings.
8“Let everything be known to our lord the king. Having come into the country of Judea and to the city Jerusalem, we found the elders of the Jews from the captivity in the city of Jerusalem building a great, new house for the Lord with costly, hewn stones, and with timbers being set in the walls.
9These works are proceeding with haste, and the project is prospering in their hands and is being completed with all glory and diligence.
10So we inquired of these elders, saying, ‘By whose command are you building this house and laying the foundations for these works?’
11We therefore questioned them in order to inform you and write to you the names of the men in charge, and we requested from them a list of the names of their leaders.
12But they answered us, saying, ‘We are servants of the Lord who created the heaven and the earth.
13The house was built many years ago by a great and powerful king of Israel, and it was completed.
14And since our fathers provoked and sinned against the heavenly Lord of Israel, he handed them over into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of the Chaldeans.
15They demolished the house and burned it, and took the people captive to Babylon.
16But in the first year of the reign of Cyrus over the country of Babylonia, King Cyrus issued a decree to build this house.
17And the sacred vessels of gold and silver, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the house in Jerusalem and deposited in his own temple—these King Cyrus brought out again from the temple in Babylonia, and they were handed over to Zerubbabel and to Sanabassar the governor.
18And he was commanded to take all these vessels and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and for the temple of the Lord to be built on its site.
19Then that Sanabassar came and laid the foundations of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been under construction but has not been completed.’
20Now therefore, O king, if it seems good, let a search be made in the royal archives of the lord king that are in Babylon.
21And if it is found that the building of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem was done by the decree of King Cyrus, and if it seems good to our lord the king, let him send us word concerning these matters.”
22Then King Darius commanded a search to be made in the archives that were stored in Babylon. And in Ecbatana, the fortress in the country of Media, a scroll was found on which this was recorded:
23“In the first year of his reign, King Cyrus commanded the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to be built, where they offer sacrifices with continual fire.
24Its height is to be sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, with three courses of hewn stone and one course of new, local timber. The expense is to be paid from the house of King Cyrus.
25Also, the sacred vessels of the house of the Lord, both gold and silver, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the house in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, are to be restored to the house in Jerusalem where they were kept, and are to be placed there.
26He also commanded Sisinnes, the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabouzanes and their associates, and the appointed governors in Syria and Phoenicia, to keep away from that place, and to permit Zerubbabel, the servant of the Lord and governor of Judea, and the elders of the Jews to build that house of the Lord on its site.
27And I, for my part, have commanded that they build it completely and that they see to it that assistance is given to the returned exiles of Judea until the house of the Lord is finished.
28And from the tribute of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, an allowance is to be diligently given to these men for sacrifice to the Lord—to Zerubbabel the governor—for bulls, rams, and lambs,
29and likewise wheat, salt, wine, and oil continually, as the priests in Jerusalem may specify, to be supplied day by day without fail,
30so that they may offer sacrifices to the Most High God for the king and his children, and pray for their lives.”
31and to command that for anyone who transgresses or annuls any of what is written, a beam is to be taken from his own house and he is to be impaled on it, and his property is to be forfeit to the king.
32Therefore, may the Lord, whose name is invoked there, destroy every king and nation that stretches out its hand to hinder or to harm that house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
33I, King Darius, have decreed that this be done with diligence.
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