The Daily Audio Bible

²⁴ So the people did no more work on God's temple in Jerusalem. The work stopped until the second year that King Darius ruled Persia.

Tattenai writes to King Darius

5 Then the prophets Haggai and Iddo's grandson, Zechariah, spoke messages from God. They served Israel's God, and they spoke with his authority. They told God's message to the Jews who lived in Jerusalem and in other parts of Judea. ² Then Shealtiel's son, Zerubbabel, and Jozadak's son, Jeshua, started again to build God's temple in Jerusalem. God's prophets were there to help them.

³ At that time, Tattenai was the ruler who had authority over the region on the west side of the Euphrates river. He went with Shethar-Bozenai and their friends to ask the Jews what they were doing. They asked them, ‘Who gave you the authority to build this temple and make it ready to use again?’ ⁴ They also asked, ‘What are the names of the men who are building this place?’

⁵ But God was watching over the Jewish leaders. Nobody was able to stop them building at that time. The city's officers had to wait until they could send a letter to King Darius. They waited for him to reply.

⁶ Tattenai, the city's ruler, Shethar-Bozenai and their friends who had authority in the region west of the Euphrates river wrote to King Darius. ⁷ This is what they said:

King Darius, we hope that you are well.

⁸ We went to Judah to visit the temple of the great God. The king should know that the Jews are building it with big stones. They are putting wooden beams in its walls. They are working hard and very carefully. The building is growing fast.

⁹ We spoke to their leaders and we asked them, ‘Who gave you authority to build this temple and make it ready to use again?’ ¹⁰ We also asked them to tell us their names. Then we could tell you who the leaders are.

¹¹ This is the answer that they gave to us:

‘We are servants of the God who rules heaven and earth. A great king of Israel built this temple and finished it many years ago. Now we are building it again. ¹² Our ancestors made the God of heaven angry. So he let King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon have power over them. He destroyed this temple. Then he took our people as prisoners to Babylon.

¹³ But later, King Cyrus of Babylon commanded that we must build God's temple again. He said this in the first year that he was king. ¹⁴ He gave back to us the gold and silver things that belong in our God's temple. King Nebuchadnezzar had taken those things away from the temple in Jerusalem. He took them to Babylon and he put them in his own temple.

But King Cyrus gave our valuable things to Sheshbazzar. He had given authority to this man to rule over Judah. ¹⁵ He said to Sheshbazzar, “Take these things and put them safely in the temple in Jerusalem. Let the people build the house of God again, in the place where it used to be.” ¹⁶ So this man, Sheshbazzar, came here. He built the foundations of God's temple in Jerusalem. Since then we have continued to build it, but we have not finished it yet.’

¹⁷ If the king should choose, he may look in the books in Babylon's royal library. You should see whether King Cyrus did give a command about God's temple in Jerusalem. See if he said that the Jews should build it again. When you know what is true, you should decide what is right. Please tell us what we should do.

King Darius replies

6 King Darius told his officers to look in the books in the royal library. That was in Babylon, in the place where they stored important things. ² But it was in the region of Media that they found a scroll about the temple in Jerusalem. It was stored in a strong building in Ecbatana. This is what the scroll said:

‘This is an important note.

³ King Cyrus gave a command about God's temple in Jerusalem, in the first year that he ruled in Babylon. He said:

“The Jews must build their temple as a place where they can offer sacrifices to their God. They must build it on its foundations. They must make it 30 metres wide and 30 metres high. ⁴ They must build the walls with three rows of big stones, and then a row of wooden beams. They should take money from the king's palace to pay for the work. ⁵ We will give back to them the silver and gold things that belong in their God's temple. King Nebuchadnezzar took them from the temple in Jerusalem and he brought them here to Babylon. Now they must return to the place where they belong, in God's house in Jerusalem.”

⁶ So listen to me, Tattenai, my ruler of the region on the west side of the Euphrates river. You, Shethar-Bozenai and your other officers in that region must all stay away from the temple! ⁷ You must not do anything to stop the work on God's temple. The Jewish ruler and their leaders must continue to build this house of God. They must build it in its proper place.

⁸ So I will now tell you what you must do for the Jewish leaders. You must help them to build this temple again. Use the king's money to pay for everything that they need to continue the work. Use the taxes that we receive from people in the region west of the Euphrates river. The work on the building must not stop. ⁹ Also give to the priests the things that they need each day for their sacrifices to the God of heaven. Give them young bulls, male sheep and lambs to use as burnt offerings. Give them grain, salt, wine and olive oil. Whenever the priests in Jerusalem ask for something, you must be sure to give it to them. ¹⁰ Then their offerings will make the God of heaven happy. They will pray for God to bless the king and his family.

¹¹ Nobody may change what I have commanded in this letter. If anyone does not obey this command, men must remove a beam from the roof of his house. They must push the point of the beam through his body and lift him up on it. Then they must destroy his house so that it becomes a heap of stones. That is what he deserves.

¹² No king or nation should try to change my command. They must never destroy God's temple in Jerusalem. That is the place that he has chosen for people to worship him. I pray that he will remove anyone who tries to attack that place.

I, Darius, have made this command. Everyone must obey it completely.’

They finish the temple

¹³ Tattenai, ruler of the region west of the Euphrates river, Shethar-Bozenai and their friends carefully obeyed King Darius's command. ¹⁴ So the leaders of the Jews continued to build the temple. The work went very well. They listened to the messages from God that the prophet Haggai and Iddo's grandson, Zechariah, were teaching them. They finished building the temple. Israel's God had commanded them to do that. Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, the kings of Persia, had also commanded them to do it. ¹⁵ They finished building the temple on the third day of Adar month. King Darius had then been king for six years.

¹⁶ Then the Israelite people offered the temple to God, so that he would bless it. The priests, the Levites and the other people who had returned from Babylon were all very happy. ¹⁷ They offered 100 bulls, 200 male sheep and 400 lambs. Then they sacrificed 12 male goats as a sin offering for all Israel. There was one goat for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. ¹⁸ They decided how each group of priests and Levites should work in God's temple in Jerusalem. Moses had written in his book how they should do this.

The Passover feast

¹⁹ On the 14th day of the first month, the people ate the Passover feast.^{[a] 20} The priests and Levites had all made themselves clean for their special work. The Levites killed the lambs for the Passover sacrifice. They did that on behalf of all the people, the priests and themselves. ²¹ So all the people who had returned from Babylon ate the feast. Other Israelites in Jerusalem had turned away from the bad things that other nations who lived there did. They had decided to worship the Lord, Israel's God. So they also ate the feast. ²² Then they ate the Feast of Flat Bread for seven days.^[b] The Lord had caused them to be very happy, because the king of Assyria had helped them. The Lord had made the king think in a different way about the Jews in Jerusalem. He had decided to help them to build the God of Israel's temple.

⁵ Is Apollos important? Is Paul important? No! We are God's servants. We told you God's good news and you believed it. Each of us is doing the job which the Lord has given to us. ⁶ When I told you God's good news, I was like someone who planted seeds. Then Apollos was like someone who gave water to the young plants. But it was God who caused everything to grow. ⁷ The person who plants the seeds is not important. The person who gives water to the plants is not important. The important person is God, because he causes everything to grow. ⁸ The person who plants and the person who gives water both have the same purpose. God will pay each person what is right for their work. ⁹ Apollos and I work together as God's servants. You are like God's field that we work in.

You are also like a building that belongs to God. ¹⁰ I am like a good builder. God has given that job to me and he has helped me to do it well. I was the person who built the foundation. Now other people are building on that foundation.^[a] But each person must be careful how he builds. ¹¹ God has already put Jesus Christ as the only foundation of this building. So nobody can put any other foundation there.

¹² People may build on this foundation with gold, silver or valuable stones. Or they may build on it with wood, dry grass or leaves. ¹³ One day, God will show clearly how good each builder's work is. God will put each person's work into a fire on that great day.^[b] The fire will show whether their work is good or bad. ¹⁴ If the fire does not destroy the work, then that builder will receive good things from God. ¹⁵ But if the fire destroys a builder's work, that person will lose everything. The person himself will be safe. But he will be like someone who has run through the fire to a safe place.

¹⁶ You surely know that you are like God's special house. As God's people, God's Spirit lives in you. ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God's special house, then God will destroy that person. And you are like that house. You belong to God in a special way.

¹⁸ Be careful! Do not think that you are better than you really are. Maybe you think that you are wise, like people today want to be wise. But if you want to become truly wise, be ready for other people to think that you are a fool. ¹⁹ People in this world think that some people are wise. But God thinks that those wise people are fools. It says in the Bible:

²¹ Because of that, you should not be proud of any human leader. All leaders are there to serve you, as God's people. ²² Do not be proud of Paul, Apollos or Peter. We belong to you. All of this world, and life and death belong to you. The things of today and tomorrow belong to you. Everything belongs to you, ²³ you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

This is a song that David wrote.

The storm^[a]