Tattenai’s Letter to King Darius
1Haggai and Zechariah, the prophets, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem. They spoke to them in the name of the God of Israel. God had spoken to those prophets. Zechariah belonged to the family line of Iddo. 2Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, began to work. So did Joshua, the son of Jozadak. They began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were right there with them. They were helping them.
3At that time Tattenai was governor of the land west of the Euphrates River. He and Shethar-Bozenai and their friends went to the Jews. They asked them, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple? Who told you that you could finish it?” 4They also asked, “What are the names of the people who are putting up this building?” 5But the God of the Jews was watching over their elders. So they didn’t have to stop their work. First a report would have to be sent to Darius. Then they would have to receive his answer in writing.
6Here is a copy of the letter sent to King Darius. It was from Tattenai, the governor of the land west of the Euphrates. Shethar-Bozenai joined him in writing it. So did their friends. They were officials of that land. 7The report they sent to the king said,
We are sending this letter to you, King Darius.
We give you our most friendly greetings.
8We want you to know that we went to the land of Judah. We went to the temple of the great God. The people are building it with large stones. They are putting wooden beams in the walls. The people are working hard. The work is moving ahead very quickly under the direction of the people.
9We asked the elders some questions. We said to them, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple? Who told you that you could finish it?” 10We also asked them what their names were. We wanted to write down the names of their leaders for your information.
11Here is the answer they gave us. They said,
“We serve the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago. The great King Solomon built it and finished it. 12But our people made the God of heaven angry. So he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar from Chaldea. He was king of Babylon. He destroyed this temple. He forced the Jews to leave their own country. He took them away to Babylon.
13“But King Cyrus gave an order to rebuild this house of God. He gave it in the first year he was king of Babylon. 14He even removed some gold and silver objects from the temple of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had brought them there from the house of God in Jerusalem. He had taken them to the temple in Babylon. Then King Cyrus brought the objects out. He gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar. Cyrus had appointed him as governor. 15Cyrus told him, ‘Take these objects with you. Go and put them in the temple in Jerusalem. Rebuild the house of God in the same place where it stood before.’
16“So Sheshbazzar made the trip to Jerusalem. He laid the foundations of the house of God there. From that day until now the people have been working on it. But they haven’t finished it yet.”
17If it pleases you, King Darius, let a search be made in the royal records. Search the official records of the kings of Babylon. Find out whether King Cyrus really did give an order to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then tell us what you decide to do.
1那时，先知哈该和易多的子孙撒迦利亚奉以色列上帝的名，向犹大和耶路撒冷的犹大人宣讲上帝的话。 2于是，撒拉铁的儿子所罗巴伯和约萨达的儿子耶书亚开始在耶路撒冷重建上帝的殿，上帝的先知在他们身边帮助他们。
3当时，河西总督达乃、示他·波斯乃及其同僚来问他们：“谁批准你们重建这殿、修复这墙的？” 4又问道：“建造这殿的人们叫什么名字。” 5然而，上帝看顾犹太人的长老，工程没有被叫停，直到事情呈报给大流士王、收到王的回谕后才停止。
6河西的官员们——河西总督达乃、示他·波斯乃及其同僚上奏大流士王， 7奏章如下：
“愿大流士王一切平安！ 8王该知道，我们去了犹大省，到了伟大上帝的殿。人们正在用大石建殿，木料已经安在墙里，工程进展迅速、顺利。 9我们问那些长老，‘谁批准你们重建这殿、修复这墙的？’ 10我们又问他们的名字，好记下他们首领的名字禀告王。
11“他们回答说，‘我们是天地之上帝的仆人，我们正在重建这座多年前由以色列的一位伟大君王建造的殿。 12但因为我们的祖先触怒了天上的上帝，上帝把他们交在迦勒底人——巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒的手中，他摧毁了这殿，把他们掳到巴比伦。 13然而，巴比伦王塞鲁士在其统治元年，降旨重建这座上帝的殿。 14尼布甲尼撒王曾掳去耶路撒冷上帝殿里的金银器皿，放在巴比伦神庙里，塞鲁士王从巴比伦神庙取出这些器皿，交给他委派做省长的设巴萨， 15吩咐他把这些器皿带去，重新陈设在耶路撒冷的殿里，在旧址上重建上帝的殿。 16于是，这位设巴萨就在耶路撒冷为上帝的殿立了根基，从那时到如今，殿一直在重建中，还没有竣工。’
17“现在，王若愿意，请查阅巴比伦的王室记录，看看塞鲁士王是否降旨重建耶路撒冷的上帝之殿。王对此事如何决断，请告知我们。”
