Ezra 6:3-12

6:3 In the first year of his reign, ¹  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ²  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. ³  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety ⁴  feet, ⁵  6:4 with three layers of large stones ⁶  and one ⁷  layer of timber. The expense is to be subsidized ⁸  by the royal treasury. ⁹  6:5 Furthermore let the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar brought from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, be returned and brought to their proper place in the temple in Jerusalem. Let them be deposited in the temple of God.’

6:6 “Now Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar Bozenai, and their colleagues, the officials of Trans-Euphrates – all of you stay far away from there! 6:7 Leave the work on this temple of God alone. ¹⁰  Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this temple of God in its proper place.

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. ¹¹  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 ¹²  the priests who are in Jerusalem – must be given to them daily without any neglect, 6:10 so that they may be offering incense to the God of heaven and may be praying for the good fortune of the king and his family. ¹³ 

6:11 “I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled ¹⁴  on it, and his house is to be reduced ¹⁵  to a rubbish heap ¹⁶  for this indiscretion. ¹⁷  6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation ¹⁸  who reaches out ¹⁹  to cause such change so as to destroy this temple of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given orders. Let them be carried out with precision!”

Ezra 7:12-28

7:12 ²⁰ “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the perfect law of the God of heaven: 7:13 I have now issued a decree ²¹  that anyone in my kingdom from the people of Israel – even the priests and Levites – who wishes to do so may go up with you to Jerusalem. ²²  7:14 You are authorized ²³  by the king and his seven advisers to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your possession, ²⁴  7:15 and to bring silver and gold which the king and his advisers have freely contributed to the God of Israel, who resides in Jerusalem, 7:16 along with all the silver and gold that you may collect ²⁵  throughout all the province of Babylon and the contributions of the people and the priests for the temple of their God which is in Jerusalem. 7:17 With this money you should be sure to purchase bulls, rams, and lambs, along with the appropriate ²⁶  meal offerings and libations. You should bring them to the altar of the temple of your God which is in Jerusalem. 7:18 You may do whatever seems appropriate to you and your colleagues ²⁷  with the rest of the silver and the gold, in keeping with the will of your God. 7:19 Deliver to ²⁸  the God of Jerusalem the vessels that are given to you for the service of the temple of your God. 7:20 The rest of the needs for the temple of your God that you may have to supply, ²⁹  you may do so from the royal treasury.

7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ³⁰  Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you – 7:22 up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of olive oil, ³¹  and unlimited ³²  salt. 7:23 Everything that the God of heaven has required should be precisely done for the temple of the God of heaven. Why should there be wrath ³³  against the empire of the king and his sons? 7:24 Furthermore, be aware of the fact ³⁴  that you have no authority to impose tax, tribute, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the musicians, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or the attendants at the temple of this God.

7:25 “Now you, Ezra, in keeping with the wisdom of your God which you possess, ³⁵  appoint judges ³⁶  and court officials who can arbitrate cases on behalf of all the people who are in Trans-Euphrates who know the laws of your God. Those who do not know this law should be taught. 7:26 Everyone who does not observe both the law of your God and the law of the king will be completely ³⁷  liable to the appropriate penalty, whether it is death or banishment or confiscation of property or detainment in prison.”

7:27 ³⁸ Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who so moved in the heart of the king to so honor the temple of the Lord which is in Jerusalem! 7:28 He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

[6:3]  ¹ tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”

[6:3]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:3]  ³ tn Aram “raised”; or perhaps “retained” (so NASB; cf. NLT), referring to the original foundations of Solomon’s temple.

[6:3]  ⁴ tc The Syriac Peshitta reads “twenty cubits” here, a measurement probably derived from dimensions given elsewhere for Solomon’s temple. According to 1 Kgs 6:2 the dimensions of the Solomonic temple were as follows: length, 60 cubits; width, 20 cubits; height, 30 cubits. Since one would expect the dimensions cited in Ezra 6:3 to correspond to those of Solomon’s temple, it is odd that no dimension for length is provided. The Syriac has apparently harmonized the width dimension provided here (“twenty cubits”) to that given in 1 Kgs 6:2.

[6:3]  ⁵ tn Aram “Its height sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.

[6:4]  ⁶ tn Aram “stones of rolling.”

[6:4]  ⁷ tc The translation follows the LXX reading חַד (khad, “one”) rather than the MT חֲדַת (khadat, “new”). If the MT reading “new” is understood to mean freshly cut timber that has not yet been seasoned it would seem to be an odd choice for construction material.

[6:4]  ⁸ tn Aram “let be given.”

[6:4]  ⁹ tn Aram “house.”

[6:7]  ¹⁰ tc For the MT reading “the work on this temple of God” the LXX reads “the servant of the Lord Zurababel” [= Zerubbabel].

[6:8]  ¹¹ tn The words “of the work” are not in the Aramaic, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:9]  ¹² tn Aram “according to the word of.”

[6:10]  ¹³ tn Aram “for the life of the king and his sons.”

[6:11]  ¹⁴ sn The practice referred to in v. 11 has been understood in various ways: hanging (cf. 1 Esd 6:32 and KJV); flogging (cf. NEB, NLT); impalement (BDB 1091 s.v. זְקַף; HALOT 1914 s.v. מחא hitpe; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The latter seems the most likely.

[6:11]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “made.”

[6:11]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “a dunghill.”

[6:11]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “for this.”

[6:12]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “people.”

[6:12]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “who sends forth his hand.”

[7:12]  ²⁰ sn Ezra 7:12-26 is written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew.

[7:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “from me is placed a decree.” So also in v. 21.

[7:13]  ²² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[7:14]  ²³ tn Aram “sent.”

[7:14]  ²⁴ tn Aram “in your hand.”

[7:16]  ²⁵ tn Aram “find.”

[7:17]  ²⁶ tn Aram “their meal offerings and their libations.”

[7:18]  ²⁷ tn Aram “brothers.”

[7:19]  ²⁸ tn Or “before.”

[7:20]  ²⁹ tn Aram “may fall to you to give.”

[7:21]  ³⁰ tn Aram “who are in.”

[7:22]  ³¹ tc The translation reads מְשַׁח בַּתִּין (mÿshakh battin) rather than מְשַׁח בַּתִּין (battin mÿshakh) of the MT.

[7:22]  ³² tn Aram “he did not write.”

[7:23]  ³³ tn The Aramaic word used here for “wrath” (קְצַף, qÿtsaf; cf. Heb קָצַף, qatsaf) is usually used in the Hebrew Bible for God’s anger as opposed to human anger (but contra Eccl 5:17 [MT 5:16]; Esth 1:18; 2 Kgs 3:27). The fact that this word is used in v. 23 may have theological significance, pointing to the possibility of divine judgment if the responsible parties should fail to make available these provisions for the temple.

[7:24]  ³⁴ tn Aram “we are making known to you.”

[7:25]  ³⁵ tn Aram “in your hand.”

[7:25]  ³⁶ tc For the MT reading שָׁפְטִין (shoftim, “judges”) the LXX uses the noun γραμματεῖς (grammatei", “scribes”).

[7:26]  ³⁷ tn On the meaning of this word see HALOT 1820-21 s.v. אָסְפַּרְנָא; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 14.

[7:27]  ³⁸ sn At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (7:12-26) back to Hebrew.