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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//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 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></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="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</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">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><p class="nb"><span class="v15_5_1"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.1" class="v15_5_1">1</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.1!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> At that time two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo, began to speak in the name of the God of Israel to the Jews who lived in Judah and Jerusalem. </span><span class="v15_5_2"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.2" class="v15_5_2">2</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.2!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> When Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak heard their messages, they began to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, and the two prophets helped them.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v15_5_3"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.3" class="v15_5_3">3</span>Almost at once Governor Tattenai of West-of-Euphrates, Shethar Bozenai, and their fellow officials came to Jerusalem and demanded: “Who gave you orders to build this Temple and equip it?” </span><span class="v15_5_4"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.4" class="v15_5_4">4</span>They<a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.4!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> also asked for the names of all the men who were helping build the Temple. </span><span class="v15_5_5"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.5" class="v15_5_5">5</span>But God was watching over the Jewish leaders, and the Persian officials decided to take no action until they could write to Emperor Darius and receive a reply. </span><span class="v15_5_6"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.6" class="v15_5_6">6</span>This is the report that they sent to the emperor:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_7"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.7" class="v15_5_7">7</span>“To Emperor Darius, may you rule in peace.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_8"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.8" class="v15_5_8">8</span>“Your Majesty should know that we went to the province of Judah and found that the Temple of the great God is being rebuilt with large stone blocks and with wooden beams set in the wall. The work is being done with great care and is moving ahead steadily.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_9"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.9" class="v15_5_9">9</span>“We then asked the leaders of the people to tell us who had given them authority to rebuild the Temple and to equip it. </span><span class="v15_5_10"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.10" class="v15_5_10">10</span>We also asked them their names so that we could inform you who the leaders of this work are.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_11"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.11" class="v15_5_11">11</span>“They answered, ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the Temple which was originally built and equipped many years ago by a powerful king of Israel. </span><span class="v15_5_12"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.12" class="v15_5_12">12</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.12!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> But because our ancestors made the God of Heaven angry, he let them be conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, a king of the Chaldean dynasty. The Temple was destroyed, and the people were taken into exile in Babylonia. </span><span class="v15_5_13"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.13" class="v15_5_13">13</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Ezra.5.13!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Then in the first year of the reign of King Cyrus as emperor of Babylonia, Cyrus issued orders for the Temple to be rebuilt. </span><span class="v15_5_14"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.14" class="v15_5_14">14</span>He restored the gold and silver Temple utensils which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem and had placed in the temple in Babylon. Emperor Cyrus turned these utensils over to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor of Judah. </span><span class="v15_5_15"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.15" class="v15_5_15">15</span>The emperor told him to take them and return them to the Temple in Jerusalem, and to rebuild the Temple where it had stood before. </span><span class="v15_5_16"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.16" class="v15_5_16">16</span>So Sheshbazzar came and laid its foundation; construction has continued from then until the present, but it is still not finished.’</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v15_5_17"><span class="reftext" id="Ezra.5.17" class="v15_5_17">17</span>“Now, if it please Your Majesty, have a search made in the royal records in Babylon to find whether or not Emperor Cyrus gave orders for this Temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and then inform us what your will is in this matter.”</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.4: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Some ancient translations </char><char style="fq" closed="false">They; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Aramaic </char><char style="fq" closed="false">We.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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