Enemies of the Rebuilding

4 When the enemies of the people of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned ·captives [exiles] were building a Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, ² they came to Zerubbabel [^Ca descendant of David; 1 Chr. 3:19] and the ·leaders of the families [^Lheads of the fathers]. The enemies said, “Let us help you build, because we are like you and ·want to worship [^Lseek] your God. We have been offering sacrifices to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria [^C680–669 bc], who brought us here.”

³ But Zerubbabel, Jeshua [3:2], and the ·leaders [^Lheads of the fathers] of Israel answered, “You will ·not help us build [have no part in building] a ·Temple [^Lhouse] to our God. We will build it ·ourselves [alone] for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us to do [1:2–4].”