Ezra 5:3-13

3At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side of the river, and Shetharboznai, and their companions, and said thus to them, Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall? 4Then said we to them after this manner, What are the names of the men that make this building?1 5But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius: and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter . 6The copy of the letter that Tatnai, governor on this side of the river, and Shetharboznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, who were on this side of the river, sent to Darius the king: 7They sent a letter to him, in which was written thus; To Darius the king, all peace.2 8Be it known to the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work proceedeth quickly, and prospereth in their hands.3 9Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to finish these walls? 10We asked their names also, to inform thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them. 11And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and set up. 12But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon. 13But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.