Ezra 4:3-5

Evangelical Heritage Version

³ Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel said to them, “We will not permit you to join us in building a house for our God, because we ourselves will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, just as King Cyrus of Persia commanded us.”

⁴ Then the people of the land kept discouraging^[a] the people of Judah and kept trying to make them too frightened to build. ⁵ They kept bribing officials^[b] against them to try to frustrate their plans. They did this throughout all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, until the reign of Darius king of Persia.