Ezra 4:2-4

Revised Geneva Translation

² And they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief fathers, and said to them, “We will build with you. For we seek the LORD your God like you; and we have sacrificed to Him since the time of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us up here.”

³ Then Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the chief fathers of Israel said to them, “It is not for you but for us to build the House to our God. For we ourselves together will build it to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”

⁴ Therefore, the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and troubled them in building.