Ezra 4:1-5
Read this passage and open each verse for the full verse feed and commentary tools.
Enemies Hinder the Work
1Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, 2they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for like you, we seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” 3But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build for the Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”
4Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, 5and bribed advisers against them to frustrate their advice all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
The Letter to King Artaxerxes
The King Replies and Work Stops