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This letter was a petition of the Jews of Yebu - (Elephantine) to the Persian governor of Judaea Bagohi -Bagoas in Greek asking for permission and help to rebuild the destroyed by Egyptian troops Jewish temple of the god Jhy (Yahwah) in Yeb (Elephantine). According to the letter the priests  of another rival temple in Yeb  of the Egyptian god Khnub plotted with the local governor Uirdng and destroyed and looted the temple of Jhy also in Yeb. A letter was initially sent to the Jewish high priest in Jerusalem which was ignored and no answer was sent. The entire letter follows in English. Petition to Bagoas requesting help to rebuild the Temple of Yeb (Elephantine) The translation is based on a translation of American journal of theology  which is more like a word-to-word,phrase-to-phrase translation to correspond with the original.A free translation approach is needed to make more sense. 1 To our Lord Bagohi,governor of Judaea,your servants Idnih and his part...

The Elephantine papyri is a body of texts from 5 B.C. mostly written in Imperial Aramaic from Elephantine-a Jewish fortress on an island in the Upper Nile near Aswan in Persian-ruled Egypt.The name Elephantine is what Greek called it.Jews called it Yebu. These texts are manuscripts of Jewish soldiers and their community who were settled there by the Persians to defend the borders with Nubia. What are the Elephantine manuscripts about. The manuscripts number hundreds and most of them are written in the Aramaic language,apparently the mother tongue of the local Jews.Though some of them are in Ancient Egyptian (Demotic and Hieratic) ,Coptic and Greek.These are mostly documents of the local Jewish community concerning many matters  such as legal,marriage,commerce,religion and politics.Some are letters,like the letter below from the local Jewish community to Persian king Bagoas-governor of Judaea asking him to rebuild the Jewish temple in Yebu-Elephantine which Egyptian troops wit...