The copy of the letter which Tat”²tenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and She”²thar-boz”²enai and his associates the governors who were in the province Beyond the River sent to Darius the king; they sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace. Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls; this work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus, ”˜Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of the men at their head. And this was their reply to us: ”˜We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnez”²zar king of Babylon, the Chalde”²an, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia.
–Ezra 5:6-11