17:24 The king of Assyria brought foreigners 1 from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria 2 in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 17:25 When they first moved in, 3 they did not worship 4 the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them and the lions were killing them. 17:26 The king of Assyria was told, 5 “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people 6 because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.” 17:27 So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you 7 deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” 8 17:28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. 9 He taught them how to worship 10 the Lord.
17:29 But each of these nations made 11 its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria 12 had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived. 17:30 The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, 13 the people from Cuth made Nergal, 14 the people from Hamath made Ashima, 15 17:31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, 16 and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech, 17 the gods of Sepharvaim. 17:32 At the same time they worshiped 18 the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places. 19 17:33 They were worshiping 20 the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.
17:34 To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship 21 the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave 22 the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. 17:35 The Lord made an agreement 23 with them 24 and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them. 17:36 Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability; 25 bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. 17:37 You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods. 17:38 You must never forget the agreement I made with you, and you must not worship other gods. 17:39 Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.” 17:40 But they 26 pay no attention; instead they observe their earlier practices. 17:41 These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.
4:1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin learned that the former exiles 27 were building a temple for the Lord God of Israel, 4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders 28 and said to them, “Let us help you build, 29 for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him 30 from the time 31 of King Esarhaddon 32 of Assyria, who brought us here.” 33 4:3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, “You have no right 34 to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.” 4:4 Then the local people 35 began to discourage 36 the people of Judah and to dishearten them from building. 4:5 They were hiring advisers to oppose them, so as to frustrate their plans, throughout the time 37 of King Cyrus of Persia until the reign of King Darius 38 of Persia. 39
4:6 40 At the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus 41 they filed an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. 42 4:7 And during the reign 43 of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, 44 Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues 45 wrote to King Artaxerxes 46 of Persia. This letter 47 was first written in Aramaic but then translated.
[Aramaic:] 48
4:8 Rehum the commander 49 and Shimshai the scribe 50 wrote a letter concerning 51 Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows: 4:9 From 52 Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues – the judges, the rulers, the officials, the secretaries, the Erechites, the Babylonians, the people of Susa (that is, 53 the Elamites), 4:10 and the rest of nations whom the great and noble Ashurbanipal 54 deported and settled in the cities 55 of Samaria and other places in Trans-Euphrates. 56 4:11 (This is a copy of the letter they sent to him:)
“To King Artaxerxes, 57 from your servants in 58 Trans-Euphrates: 4:12 Now 59 let the king be aware that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and odious city. 60 They are completing its walls and repairing its foundations. 4:13 Let the king also be aware that if this city is built and its walls are completed, no more tax, custom, or toll will be paid, and the royal treasury 61 will suffer loss. 4:14 In light of the fact that we are loyal to the king, 62 and since it does not seem appropriate to us that the king should sustain damage, 63 we are sending the king this information 64 4:15 so that he may initiate a search of the records 65 of his predecessors 66 and discover in those records 67 that this city is rebellious 68 and injurious to both kings and provinces, producing internal revolts 69 from long ago. 70 It is for this very reason that this city was destroyed. 4:16 We therefore are informing the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, you will not retain control 71 of this portion of Trans-Euphrates.”
4:17 The king sent the following response:
“To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and other parts of Trans-Euphrates: Greetings! 72 4:18 The letter you sent to us has been translated and read in my presence. 4:19 So I gave orders, 73 and it was determined 74 that this city from long ago has been engaging in insurrection against kings. It has continually engaged in 75 rebellion and revolt. 4:20 Powerful kings have been over Jerusalem who ruled throughout the entire Trans-Euphrates 76 and who were the beneficiaries of 77 tribute, custom, and toll. 4:21 Now give orders that these men cease their work and that this city not be rebuilt until such time as I so instruct. 78 4:22 Exercise appropriate caution so that there is no negligence in this matter. Why should danger increase to the point that kings sustain damage?”
4:23 Then, as soon as the copy of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read in the presence of Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they proceeded promptly to the Jews in Jerusalem 79 and stopped them with threat of armed force. 80
4:24 So the work on the temple of God in Jerusalem came to a halt. It remained halted until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia. 81
4:1 (3:33) 82 Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became angry and was quite upset. He derided the Jews, 4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues 83 and the army of Samaria 84 he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? 85 Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”