Ezra 4:22-24

New International Reader's Version

²² Pay careful attention to this matter. Why should we let this danger grow? That would not be in our best interests.

²³ The copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary. It was also read to their friends. Right away they went to the Jews in Jerusalem. They forced them to stop their work.

²⁴ And so the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a stop. No more work was done on it until the second year that Darius was king of Persia.