Ezra 4:2-4

Lexham English Bible

² And they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families,^[a] and they said to them, “Let us build with you. Like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him from the days of Esarhaddon the king of Assyria who brought us up here. ³ But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the families^[b] of Israel said to them, “It is not for you but for us to build a house for our God. For we ourselves alone will build it for Yahweh the God of Israel, just as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴ Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah^[c] and made them afraid to build