Ezra 3:2

3:2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak ¹  and his priestly colleagues ²  and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his colleagues ³  started to build ⁴  the altar of the God of Israel so they could offer burnt offerings on it as required by ⁵  the law of Moses the man of God.

Ezra 3:9

3:9 So Jeshua appointed both his sons and his relatives, ⁶  Kadmiel and his sons (the sons of Yehudah ⁷ ), to take charge of the workers in the temple of God, along with the sons of Henadad, their sons, and their relatives ⁸  the Levites.

Ezra 4:2

4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders ⁹  and said to them, “Let us help you build, ¹⁰  for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him ¹¹  from the time ¹²  of King Esarhaddon ¹³  of Assyria, who brought us here.” ¹⁴ 

Ezra 4:12

4:12 Now ¹⁵  let the king be aware that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and odious city. ¹⁶  They are completing its walls and repairing its foundations.

Ezra 5:3

5:3 At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority ¹⁷  to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” ¹⁸ 

Ezra 5:8

5:8 Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. It is being built with large stones, ¹⁹  and timbers are being placed in the walls. This work is being done with all diligence and is prospering in their hands.

Ezra 5:17

5:17 “Now if the king is so inclined, ²⁰  let a search be conducted in the royal archives ²¹  there in Babylon in order to determine whether King Cyrus did in fact issue orders for this temple of God to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us a decision concerning this matter.”

Ezra 6:8-9

6:8 “I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs are to be given to these men, so that there may be no interruption of the work. ²²  6:9 Whatever is needed – whether oxen or rams or lambs or burnt offerings for the God of heaven or wheat or salt or wine or oil, as required by ²³  the priests who are in Jerusalem – must be given to them daily without any neglect,

Ezra 6:17

6:17 For the dedication of this temple of God they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

Ezra 7:21

7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ²⁴  Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –

Ezra 8:21-22

8:21 I called for a fast there by the Ahava Canal, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey ²⁵  for us, our children, and all our property. 8:22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy ²⁶  along the way, because we had said to the king, “The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger ²⁷  is against everyone who forsakes him.”

Ezra 8:31

8:31 On the twelfth day of the first month we began traveling from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from our enemy and from bandits ²⁸  along the way.

Ezra 9:2

9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ²⁹  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

Ezra 9:7

9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ³⁰  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ³¹  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

Ezra 10:14

10:14 Let our leaders take steps ³²  on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

[3:2]  ¹ sn Jozadak (also in 3:8) is a variant spelling of Jehozadak.

[3:2]  ² tn Heb “his brothers the priests.”

[3:2]  ³ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[3:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “arose and built.”

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “written in.” Cf. v. 4.

[3:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “brothers.”

[3:9]  ⁷ sn The name יְהוּדָה (Yehudah; cf. KJV, ASV, NASB “Judah”) is probably a variant of Hodaviah (see Ezra 2:40; cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[3:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Let us build with you.”

[4:2]  ¹¹ tc The translation reads with the Qere, a Qumran MS, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Arabic version וְלוֹ (vÿlo, “and him”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

[4:2]  ¹² tn Heb “days.”

[4:2]  ¹³ sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669 b.c.

[4:2]  ¹⁴ sn The Assyrian policy had been to resettle Samaria with peoples from other areas (cf. 2 Kgs 17:24-34). These immigrants acknowledged Yahweh as well as other deities in some cases. The Jews who returned from the Exile regarded them with suspicion and were not hospitable to their offer of help in rebuilding the temple.

[4:12]  ¹⁵ tn The MT takes this word with the latter part of v. 11, but in English style it fits better with v. 12.

[4:12]  ¹⁶ sn Management of the provinces that were distantly removed from the capital was difficult, and insurrection in such places was a perennial problem. The language used in this report about Jerusalem (i.e., “rebellious,” “odious”) is intentionally inflammatory. It is calculated to draw immediate attention to the perceived problem.

[5:3]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.

[5:3]  ¹⁸ tn The exact meaning of the Aramaic word אֻשַּׁרְנָא (’ussarna’) here and in v. 9 is uncertain (BDB 1083 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it to mean “wall.” Here it is used in collocation with בַּיְתָא (bayta’, “house” as the temple of God), while in 5:3, 9 it is used in parallelism with this term. It might be related to the Assyrian noun ashurru (“wall”) or ashru (“sanctuary”; so BDB). F. Rosenthal, who translates the word “furnishings,” thinks that it probably enters Aramaic from Persian (Grammar, 62-63, §189).

[5:8]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “stones of rolling.” The reference is apparently to stones too large to carry.

[5:17]  ²⁰ tn Aram “if upon the king it is good.”

[5:17]  ²¹ tn Aram “the house of the treasures of the king.”

[6:8]  ²² tn The words “of the work” are not in the Aramaic, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:9]  ²³ tn Aram “according to the word of.”

[7:21]  ²⁴ tn Aram “who are in.”

[8:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a straight way.”

[8:22]  ²⁶ tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).

[8:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).

[8:31]  ²⁸ tn Heb “from the hand of the enemy and the one who lies in wait.” Some modern English versions render the latter phrase as “ambushes” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[9:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.

[9:7]  ³⁰ tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

[9:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

[10:14]  ³² tn Heb “stand.”