Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort—then wrote Rehum the commander, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions; the Dinites, and the Apharesattechites, the Tarpelites, the Apharesites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehites, the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asenappar brought over, and set in the city of Samaria, and the rest that are in the country beyond the River:—'And now—this is the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the king—thy servants the men beyond the River—and now be it known unto the king, that the Jews that came up from thee are come to us unto Jerusalem; they are building the rebellious and the bad city, and have finished the walls, and are digging out the foundations.
Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.
Essentially the protocol stated that each country in his kingdom was entitled to speak their unique language and pen texts to the king in their native tongue and have the presiding local officers of Artaxerxes of Persia translate the document.
Weiser continued that Mithredath Tabeel presented a substantial bribe to Rehum the secretary and Shimshai the scribe to have them compose a letter containing an ambiguity that could be interpreted as saying that the post-exile temple builders have varied the king's edict by actively engaging in the construction and fortification of the walls of Jerusalem in an attempt to rebel against the foreign king's rule.
Moreover I make a decree concerning what ye shall do to these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God; that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses be given with all diligence unto these men, that they be not hindered.
[2] Other scholars view the cylinder's text as specific to Babylon and Mesopotamia and highlight the absence of any mention of Judah or Jerusalem.
[2] Professor Lester L. Grabbe, while acknowledging a "general policy of allowing deportees to return and to re-establish cult sites", asserts that the "alleged decree of Cyrus permitting—even commanding—the Jews to rebuild the temple...cannot be considered authentic".