Now Haggai the prophet...prophesied And now in the second year of Darius, there came a prophecy to Haggai and Zechariah, the prophets to the Jews who were in the land of Judea and in Jerusalem, in the Name of the God of Israel to them, to build the edifice of the Temple without the authorization of King Darius.

to the Jews Aram. עָל יְהוּדָיֵא lit. On the Jews.

to them Aram. עֲלֵיהוֹן, lit. on them.

Then [as translated,] then.

and commenced They began to build the House of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is in Jerusalem, and with them were the prophets of the Holy One, blessed be He, helping and assisting them.

At that time, there came upon them At that time, there came upon them these adversaries of Judah and Benjamin to accuse and to slander them regarding the matter of the building.

the governor of the other side of the river [as translated,] the governor of the other side of the river.

and their companies [as translated,] and their companies.

and so they said to them [as translated,] and so they said to them.

Who issued to you Who ordered you, regarding the matter of building the Temple?

and to found these walls Aram. וְאֻשַּׁרְנָא, and to found these walls, like (4:12): “and the walls (וְאֻשַּׁיָא) they have joined,” the building of walls of bricks (לְבֵנִים) so did Menahem (p. 36) associate it.

Then [as translated,] then.

as we will say [as translated,] as we will say.

they said to them Those adversaries of Judah and Benjamin said to them [i.e.,] to Israel.

What are What are the names of the men?

who...this who are building this building.

And the eye of their God And the eye of the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is their God, was on the elders of the Jews to upraise them (sic) in the work of the building.

and they did not stop them And they did not stop the builders.

until the matter came to Darius And the elders of the Jews answered a word to those adversaries that they should not stop the building until the matter would go to King Darius.

and then they would answer And then the Jews would answer the writ of the letter concerning this, concerning Darius’ reply.

The interpretation the interpretation of the text of the letter.

and his companies [as translated,] and his companies.

the Apharsechites They are one nation that was in their companies.

to King Darius Aram. עַל דָּרְיָוֶשּׁ מַלְכָּא, lit. on King Darius.

to him Aram. עֲלוֹהִי, lit. on him.

and so was written in it and so was written in the letter.

all peace All peace shall be his.

Let it be known to the king Let it be a known thing to the king.

that we went that we went to the land of the province of Judea, to the House of the great God.

and it is built And it, the House, is built.

marble Aram. גְּלָּל (marmre in Old French), marble.

and wood is laid in the walls And wood is placed in the walls to reinforce the building in order that it endure for a long time.

was done quickly Aram. אָסְפַּרְנָא מִתְעַבְדָה, was done quickly.

אָסְפַּרְנָא is (espleytosement in Old French), rapidly.

and they succeeded at it Aram. וּמַצְלַח בְּיֶדְהם. And this work was successful in their hands.

Then When we saw the building, we asked these elders.

as follows we said to them As we will say immediately following, we said to them.

Who issued to you Who issued to you the authorization to build this house and to found these walls?

and...wall the building of a wall of bricks.

also...their names We also asked them the names of the builders, the heads of the construction, in order to let you know.

that we should write that we should write to you the names of the men.

who are at their head in whose counsel and authorization they arose to build the House.

And as follows Aram. וּכְנֵמָא, as we shall state the matter.

they gave us a reply They answered us a word.

We are We are the servants of the God of the heavens and the earth.

and we are building the House And we are building the House that was built many years ago.

and a great king of Israel And a great king that Israel had, viz. King Solomon, built it and founded it.

But now But now, since our forefathers angered the God of the heavens, He delivered them into the hands of the Chaldean king of Babylon, and he destroyed this House and exiled the people to Babylon.

But But in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus issued a command to build the House.

And also the vessels the holy vessels of silver and gold, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to his temple that is in Babylon. Cyrus took them out of the temple of the king of Babylon and delivered them to the hand of Sheshbazzar—Daniel, who was called by that name.

and brought them [as translated,] and brought them.

had taken out [as translated,] had taken them out.

whom he appointed governor for he was a prince and a governor and was called by the name governor.

And he said to him And so did Cyrus say to Sheshbazzar, “Take these vessels and bring them down into the Temple that is in Jerusalem, and the House of the Holy One, blessed be He, shall be built on its place.”

then [as translated,] then.

this Sheshbazzar Aram. דֵּךְ, came and built the walls of the House of the Holy One, blessed be He, that is in Jerusalem, and from then until now, the House has been built, but the building has not been completed.

And now And now, if it pleases the king, let the matter be known and searched out in the king’s archives, which is located in Babylon.

whether it is so whether this incident is so, that permission was issued by Cyrus to build this House, which is in Jerusalem.

and the will of the king And the will of the king concerning this he shall send to us.

to us Aram. עֲלֶינָא, lit. on us. Until here is the text of the letter that Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai sent.