NET Bible
"We inquired of those elders, asking them,‘Who gave you the authority to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?’"
— Ezra 5:9, NET Bible
“Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls?”
“Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall? ”
“Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus, "Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?"”
“And we asked those ancients, and said to them thus: Who hath given you authority to build this house, and to repair these walls?”
“Then we said to the men responsible, who gave you authority for the building of this house and these walls?”
“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 that Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and his colleagues who were the officials of Trans-Euphrates sent to King Darius.
The report they sent to him was written as follows:“To King Darius: All greetings!
Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. It is being built with large stones, and timbers are being placed in the walls. This work is being done with all diligence and is prospering in their hands.
We inquired of those elders, asking them,‘Who gave you the authority to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?’
We also inquired of their names in order to inform you, so that we might write the names of the men who were their leaders.
They responded to us in the following way:‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king of Israel built it and completed it.
But after our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon.