⁵ They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

²⁴ Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius^(A) king of Persia.

⁵ But the eye of their God^(A) was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.

⁶ This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, the officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius. ⁷ The report they sent him read as follows:

The Decree of Darius

6 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives^(A) stored in the treasury at Babylon.

Completion and Dedication of the Temple

¹³ Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates^(C) carried it out with diligence. ¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching^(D) of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus,^(E) Darius^(F) and Artaxerxes,^(G) kings of Persia. ¹⁵ The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.^(H)

²² The family heads of the Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua, as well as those of the priests, were recorded in the reign of Darius the Persian.

A Call to Build the House of the Lord

1 In the second year of King Darius,^(A) on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai^(B) to Zerubbabel^(C) son of Shealtiel, governor^(D) of Judah, and to Joshua^(E) son of Jozadak,^[a](F) the high priest:^(G)

¹⁵ on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.^(A)

The Promised Glory of the New House

In the second year of King Darius,^(B)

Blessings for a Defiled People

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month,^(A) in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai: