ble to contain their grief, and
proceeded so far as to lament and shed tears on those accounts; but
the people in general were contented with their present condition; and
because they were allowed to build them a temple, they desired no
more, and neither regarded nor remembered, nor indeed at all tormented
themselves with the comparison of that and the former temple, as if this
were below their expectations; but the wailing of the old men and of the
priests, on account of the deficiency of this temple, in their opinion,
if compared with that which had been demolished, overcame the sounds of
the trumpets and the rejoicing of the people.

3. But when the Samaritans, who were still enemies to the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin, heard the sound of the trumpets, they came running
together, and desired to know what was the occasion of this tumult;
and when they perceived that it was from the Jews, who had been carried
captive to Babylon, and were rebuilding their temple, they came to
Zorobabel and to Jeshua, and to the heads of the families, and desired
that they would give them leave to build the temple with them, and to be
partners with them in building it; for they said, "We worship their
God, and especially pray to him, and are desirous of their religious
settlement, and this ever since Shalmanezer, the king of Assyria,
transplanted us out of Cuthah and Media to this place." When they
said thus, Zorobabel and Jeshua the high priest, and the heads of the
families of the Israelites, replied to them, that it was impossible for
them to permit them to be their partners, whilst they [only] had been
appointed to build that temple at first by Cyrus, and now by Darius,
although it was indeed lawful for them to come and worship there if they
pleased, and that they could allow them nothing but that in common with
them, which was common to them with all other men, to come to their
temple and worship God there.

4. When the Cuthearts heard this, for the Samaritans have that
appellation, they had indignation at it, and persuaded the nations of
Syria to desire of the governors, in the same manner as they had
done formerly in the days of Cyrus, and again in the days of Cambyses
afterwards, to put a stop to the building of the temple, and to endeavor
to delay and protract the Jews in their zeal about it. Now at this time
Sisinnes, the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, with
certain others, came up to Jerusalem, and asked t