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As a result, the people who lived around them became determined to discourage the people of Judah and to make them fearful of continuing to build. Moreover, they also bribed officials to frustrate the plans of the people of Judah. This continued during the remaining years of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and into the reign of King Darius of Persia.[a]

Later Hostility.[b] At the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus, the people of the land drew up an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 4:5 Darius I (522–486 B.C.) included Syria and Palestine in his fifth satrapy (administrative province), known as the Satrapy Beyond the River (i.e., beyond the Euphrates). The account in verse 5 is taken up again in verse 24.
  2. Ezra 4:6 Ahasuerus: successor of Darius I, reigned from 486–465 B.C. He was succeeded by Artaxerxes I (465–424 B.C.).