Ezr 4:1-5, Neh 2:10, 19, Act 5:17 | ESV | STEP | Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord , the God of Israel ,

Ezra 4:1-5

Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

1 Now when ^athe adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever ^bsince the days of ^cEsarhaddon king of Assyria ^dwho brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, ^e“You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, ^fas King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

4 Then ^gthe people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Nehemiah 2:10

10 But when ^hSanballat the Horonite and ⁱTobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

Nehemiah 2:19

19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and ^jGeshem the Arab heard of it, ^kthey jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? ^lAre you rebelling against the king?”

Acts 5:17

The Apostles Arrested and Freed

17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of ^mthe Sadducees), and filled with ⁿjealousy