Bible in Basic English
"Then we said to the men responsible, who gave you authority for the building of this house and these walls?"
— Ezra 5:9, Bible in Basic English
“Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls?”
This is a copy of the letter which Tattenai, the ruler of the land across the river, and Shethar-bozenai and his friends the Apharsachites, living across the river, sent to Darius the king:
They sent him a letter saying, To Darius the king, all peace:
This is to give the king word that we went into the land of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is made of great stones, and has its walls supported with wood, and the work is going on with industry, and they are doing it well.
Then we said to the men responsible, who gave you authority for the building of this house and these walls?
And we made request for their names, so that we might send you word, and give you the names of the men at the head of them.
And they made answer to us, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the house which was put up in times long past and was designed and made complete by a great king of Israel.
But when the God of heaven was moved to wrath by our fathers, he gave them up into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldaean, who sent destruction on this house and took the people away into Babylon.