Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:

From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates; representatives of Dinah, Apharsath, Tarpelah, the people of Persia and Erech and Babylon and Shushan, Dehah, the Elam,

The king sent an answer: To Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, to the rest of their associates who dwell in Samaria, and to the rest beyond the River: Peace! And now:

For they do not sleep unless they have done evil, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause someone to fall.

Woe to those who devise wickedness and do evil on their beds! In the morning light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

Their feet are swift to shed blood;