They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and to the people of Tyre so that they would bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, at Joppa, according to the grant they had from Cyrus king of Persia.
“May it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goes diligently, and prospers in their hands.
“Moreover, I issue a decree concerning what you shall do for the elders of these Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God: “The cost is to be paid to these men, in full and without delay, from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province Beyond the River.
kings shall be your foster fathers and their queens your nursing mothers; they shall bow down to you with their faces toward the ground and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am the Lord, for those who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.