“When the text of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and forcibly stopped them.”
Ezra 4:23 (BSB)
Context Reading
21Now, therefore, issue an order for these men to stop, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order. 22See that you do not neglect this matter. Why allow this threat to increase and the royal interests to suffer? 23When the text of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and forcibly stopped them. 24Thus the construction of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.