Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote an epistle against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, [saying,]

Thus has judged Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of our fellow servants, the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the people of Persia, the Erech, the Babylonians, the Shushan, the Dehavites,

Then the king sent to Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their fellow servants who dwelt in Samaria, and the rest beyond the river, [saying,] Peace; and he said,

For they cannot sleep, unless they have done evil: their sleep is taken away, and they rest not.

They meditated troubles, and wrought wickedness on their beds, and they put it in execution with the daylight; for they have not lifted up their hands to God.

Their feet are swift to shed blood;