1 Then the neḇi’im, Ḥaggai the naḇi and Zeḵaryah son of Iddo, naḇu to the Yahuḏim who were in Yahuḏah and Yerushalayim, in the Name of the Elah of Yisra’ĕl upon them.
2 Then Zerubbaḇel son of She’alti’ĕl and Yĕshua son of Yotsaḏaq rose up and began to build the House of Elah which is in Yerushalayim. And the neḇi’im of Elah were with them, helping them.
3 At that time Tattenai the governor beyond the River and Shethar-Bozenai and their companions came to them and said this to them, “Who has made you a decree to build this House and to complete this wall?”
4 Then we told them what the names were of the men who were building this building.
5 And the eye of their Elah was upon the elders of the Yahuḏim, so that they could not make them cease until the matter went to Dareyawesh. And then they sent back a letter concerning this.
6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor beyond the River, had sent, and Shethar-Bozenai, and his companions the officials beyond the River, to Dareyawesh the sovereign.
7 They sent a letter to him, and this was written in it: To Dareyawesh the sovereign: All peace.
8 Let it be known to the sovereign that we went into the province of Yahuḏah, to the House of the great Elah, which is being built with heavy stones, and timber is being laid in the walls. And this work goes on speedily and is baruḵ in their hands.
9 Then we asked those elders, saying this to them, “Who made you a decree to build this House and to complete these walls?”
10 And we also asked them their names, in order to inform you, so we could write the names of the men at their head.
11 And this is the answer they gave us, saying, “We are the servants of the Elah of shamayim and earth, and we are rebuilding the House that was built many years ago, which a great sovereign of Yisra’ĕl built and completed.
12 “But because our fathers provoked the Elah of shamayim, He gave them into the hand of Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar sovereign of Baḇel, the Kasdite, who destroyed this House and exiled the people to Baḇel.
13 “But in the first year of Koresh sovereign of Baḇel, Koresh the sovereign made a decree to build this House of Elah.
14 “And also, the gold and silver utensils of the House of Elah, which Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar had taken from the Hĕyḵal that was in Yerushalayim and brought to the temple of Baḇel, those Sovereign Koresh took from the temple of Baḇel and they were given to one named Shĕshbatstsar, whom he had made governor,
15 and said to him, ‘Take these utensils go, deposit them in the Hĕyḵal in Yerushalayim, and let the House of Elah be built on its place.’
16 “Then the same Shĕshbatstsar came, laid the foundation of the House of Elah which is in Yerushalayim, and since that time even until now it has been in building, and it is not completed.”
17 And now, if it seems good to the sovereign, let a search be made in the sovereign’s treasure-house, which is there in Baḇel, whether it is so that a decree was made by Sovereign Koresh to build this House of Elah at Yerushalayim, and let the sovereign send us his decision concerning this.