Ezra

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NASB	Ezra 4:23 ¶ Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes' document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force of arms.
AMPLIFIED 2015	Ezra 4:23 ¶ Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes' document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they went up hurriedly to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them stop [work] by force of arms.

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Bible Question: Ezra 4:23 states As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compeled them by force to stop. Ezra 4:24 Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the 2nd year of the regin of Darius King of Persia. What I don't understand is Darius reigned from 521 to 486 BC the Temple was completed in 516 BC King Artaxerxes reigned from 465 to 424 BC. How could Artaxerxes give the order to stop work on the temple some 50 plus years before he became King.

Bible Answer: I think your getting tangled up with the fact Darius in not just a proper name it was also a title like king. It is very similar to Caesar of Rome, there was one Julius Caesar but later all the emperors took the name Caesar as a title.
Here is a very brief discussion from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia you might want to check a copy out for the complete story.
DARIUS
The name of three or four kings mentioned in the Old Testament. In the original Persian
it is spelled "Darayavaush"; in Babylonian, usually "Dariamush"; in Susian(?),
"Tariyamaush"; in Egyptian "Antaryuash"; on Aramaic inscriptions, daôreyaôwesh; in Greek, , DareŒños; in Latin,
"Darius." In meaning it is probably connected with the new Persian word Dara, "king."
Herodotus says it means in Greek, , "restrainer,"
"compeller," "commander."
Hope this clears some of the mystery.
EdB