Today is the seventh day of August.

Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.

I am Brian.

It is great to be here with you today.

I'm excited and honored that we can gather again around the global

campfire and take another step forward. We're a couple of days into this new

Book of Ezra that we have entered into this week and so we will pick up and begin our journey today from where we

left off yesterday and that will be Ezra, Chapter 4,

24 through 6, verse 22.

Work on the temple had been stopped and had remained at a standstill until the secondary year of the reign of Emperor Darius of Persia.

At that time, two prophets, Agiai and Zakariah, son of Edo, began to speak in the name of the

God of Israel to the Jews who lived in Judah and Jerusalem. When Zeruba Bell, son of Scheeltiel, and Joshua, son of Jehozadak, heard their messages, they began to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and the two prophets helped them.

Almost at once, Governor Tetanai of West of Euphrates,

Shatar Bozanai and their fellow officials came to Jerusalem and demanded,

Who gave you orders to build this temple and equip it?

They also asked for the names of all the men who were helping build the temple.

But God was watching over the Jewish leaders, and the Persian officials decided to take no action until they could write to Emperor Darius and receive a reply.

This is the report that they send to the Emperor.

To Emperor Darius, may you rule in peace.

Your Majesty should know that we went to the province of Judah and found that the temple of

the great God is being rebuilt with large stone blocks and with wooden beams set in the wall. The work is being done with great care and

is moving ahead steadily. We then ask the leaders of the people to tell us who had given them

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