Ezra 4:1-5
Ezra 4:1
Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel,
Ezra 4:2
they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for like you, we seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.”
Ezra 4:3
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build for the Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”
Ezra 4:4
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building,
Ezra 4:5
and bribed advisers against them to frustrate their advice all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.