Ezra 4:3
4:3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, “You have no right
to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the
Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”
Ezra 4:7
4:7 And during the reign
of Artaxerxes, Bishlam,
Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues
wrote to King Artaxerxes
of Persia. This letter
was first written in Aramaic but then translated.
[Aramaic:]
Ezra 3:8
3:8 In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem,
in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work,
along with the rest of their associates,
the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed
the Levites who were at least twenty years old
to take charge of the work on the
Lord’s temple.