Ezra 4:6-16
6Now in the reign of 1,aAhasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
7And in the days of 1Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the 2text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated afrom Aramaic.
The Letter to King Artaxerxes
81Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows—
9then wrote Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and athe rest of their colleagues, the judges and bthe lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, 10and the rest of the nations, which the great and honorable 1Osnappar took away into exile and settled in the city of Samaria and in the rest of the region beyond the 2River. aAnd now—
11this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him: 12let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding athe rebellious and evil city and bare completing the walls and repairing the foundations. 13“Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are completed, athey will not give tribute, custom, or toll, and it will damage the revenue of the kings. 14“Now because we 1are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s 2dishonor, therefore we have sent and made known to the king, 15that a search be made in the record books of your fathers. And you will find in the record books and come to know that that city is a rebellious city and damaging to kings and provinces, and that they have incited revolt within it in past days; therefore that city was laid waste. 16“We make known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls completed, as a result you will have no portion in the province beyond the River.”