Ezra 4

¹ The enemies of the people of Judah and Benjamin hear say those wey return from foreign land dey rebuild the Temple of the LORD, the God of Israel.

² So dem go see Zerubbabel and the heads of the clans and dem talk say, "Make we join una to dey rebuild the Temple. Na the same God wey una dey worship we dey worship, and we don dey offer sacrifices to him since Esarhaddon, emperor of Assyria, don send us to dey live for here."

³ Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the heads of the clans tell them say, "We no need una help to build a temple for the LORD our God. We go build am ourselves, just as Cyrus, emperor of Persia, don command us."

⁴ Then the people wey don dey live for the land dey try to discourage and scare the Jews and keep them from building.

⁵ Dem also bribe Persian government officials make dem work against them. Dem continue to dey do this all through the time wey Cyrus reign take reach Darius time.

⁶ For the beginning of the time wey Xerxes the emperor dey reign, the enemies of the people wey dey live for Judah and Jerusalem bring case against them.

⁷ Again, for the reign of Artaxerxes, emperor of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and their associate write a letter to the emperor. Na Aramaic dem take write the letter and dem translate am when dem dey read am.

⁸ Also Rehum, the governor, and Shimshai, the secretary of the province, write the letter wey follow to Artaxerxes about Jerusalem:

⁹ "From Rehum, the governor, from Shimshai, secretary of the province, from their associates, the judges, and from all the other officials, wey be men wey been come from Erech, Babylon, and Susa in the land of Elam,

¹⁰ together with the other people wey the great and powerful Ashurbanipal don move from their homes and settle them for the city of Samaria and another place for the province of west Euphrates."

¹¹ Na wetin dey the letter be this: "To Emperor Artaxerxes from him servants, the men of West Euphrates.

¹² "We wan make your Majesty know say the Jews wey come here from your other territories don settle for Jerusalem and dem dey rebuild that evil city wey no dey gree obey. Dem don start to dey rebuild the walls and dem go soon finish them.

¹³ Your Majesty, if dem build this city, and dem complete hin wall, the people go stop to dey pay tax, and your royal revenue go reduce.

¹⁴ Now, because we dey under agreement to your Majesty, we no wan make this happen, so we suggest say

¹⁵ Make you command a search in the records wey your ancestors keep. If you do am, you go find out say this city dey always rebel and say e dey give trouble to the kings and to the rulers of provinces from old times. Hin people dey always dey hard to rule. Na why dem destroy the city be this.

¹⁶ We dey sure say if dem rebuild this city and dem complete hin walls, your Majesty no go fit control the province of West Euphrates again."

¹⁷ The emperor send this answer say: "Greetings, to Rehum, the governor, to Shimshai, secretary of the province, and to other associates wey dey live for Samaria and for the rest of West Euphrates.

¹⁸ "Dem don translate and read the letter wey una send to me.

¹⁹ I don give order make dem investigate, and I don find out say from old times Jerusalem don dey disobey royal authority and na strong-head people and troublemakers full am.

²⁰ King wey get power don reign for there and rule over the entire province of West Euphrates, dey collect tax and income.

²¹ So, make una command those men make dem stop to dey rebuild the city until I don give further commands.

²² Make una do this fast, so that dem no go fit do any harm against my interests again."

²³ As soon as dem read this letter from Artaxerxes to Rehum, Shimshai, and their associates, dem hurry go Jerusalem and force the Jews to stop to dey rebuild the city.

²⁴ Work on the temple don stop and e don remain like that until the second year of the time wey Darius, emperor of Persia reign.