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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Ezra 5 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ezra/5.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ezra/5-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > Ezra 5</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ezra/4.htm" title="Ezra 4">◄</a> Ezra 5 <a href="../ezra/6.htm" title="Ezra 6">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/ezra/5.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Tattenai’s Letter to Darius</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to them and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>They <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="See Septuagint; Aramaic We.">a</a></sup></span> also asked, “What are the names of those who are constructing this building?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, the officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>The report they sent him read as follows:</p><p class="opening">To King Darius:</p><p class="opening">Cordial greetings.</p> <div class="embsection"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>The king should know that we went to the district of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The people are building it with large stones and placing the timbers in the walls. The work is being carried on with diligence and is making rapid progress under their direction.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>We questioned the elders and asked them, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>We also asked them their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>This is the answer they gave us:</p></div><div class="embsection">“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>“However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>He even removed from the temple <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or palace">b</a></sup></span> of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or palace">c</a></sup></span> in Babylon. Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>and he told him, ‘Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.’</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>“So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.”</p></div> <div class="embsection"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/5-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.</p></div><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">4</span> <span class="footnotebot">See Septuagint; Aramaic <i>We</i>.</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">14</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>palace</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">14</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>palace</i></span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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