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 ¹  along the way.

Ezra 7:25

7:25 “Now you, Ezra, in keeping with the wisdom of your God which you possess, ²  appoint judges ³  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.

Ezra 1:5

The Exiles Prepare to Return to Jerusalem

1:5 Then the leaders ⁴  of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites – all those whose mind God had stirred – got ready ⁵  to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ⁶ 

Ezra 5:14

5:14 Even the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had brought to the palace ⁷  of Babylon – even those things King Cyrus brought from the palace of Babylon and presented ⁸  to a man by the name of Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed as governor.

Ezra 6:18

6:18 They appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their divisions over the worship of God at Jerusalem, ⁹  in accord with ¹⁰  the book of Moses.

Ezra 10:5

10:5 So Ezra got up and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath to carry out this plan. ¹¹  And they all took a solemn oath.

Ezra 3:11

3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ¹²  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ¹³  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established.

Ezra 7:9

7:9 On the first day of the first month he had determined to make ¹⁴  the ascent from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem, ¹⁵  for the good hand of his God was on him.

Ezra 10:2

10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, ¹⁶  addressed Ezra:

“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying ¹⁷  foreign women from the local peoples. ¹⁸  Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard. ¹⁹ 

Ezra 4:23

4:23 Then, as soon as the copy of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read in the presence of Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they proceeded promptly to the Jews in Jerusalem ²⁰  and stopped them with threat of armed force. ²¹ 

Ezra 8:1

The Leaders Who Returned with Ezra

8:1 These are the leaders ²²  and those enrolled with them by genealogy who were coming up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

Ezra 2:59

2:59 These are the ones that came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer (although they were unable to certify ²³  their family connection ²⁴  or their ancestry, ²⁵  as to whether they really were from Israel):

Ezra 7:6

7:6 This Ezra is the one who came up from Babylon. He was a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king supplied him with everything he requested, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

Ezra 9:6

9:6 I prayed, ²⁶ 

“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens.

Ezra 1:11

1:11 All these gold and silver vessels totaled 5,400. ²⁷  Sheshbazzar brought them all along when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Ezra 7:1

The Arrival of Ezra

7:1 Now after these things had happened, during the reign of King Artaxerxes ²⁸  of Persia, Ezra came up from Babylon. ²⁹  Ezra was the son of Seraiah, who was the son of Azariah, who was the son of Hilkiah,

Ezra 7:7

7:7 In the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, Ezra brought ³⁰  up to Jerusalem ³¹  some of the Israelites and some of the priests, the Levites, the attendants, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants.

Ezra 9:5

9:5 At the time of the evening offering I got up from my self-abasement, ³²  with my tunic and robe torn, and then dropped to my knees and spread my hands to the Lord my God.

Ezra 1:3

1:3 Anyone from ³³  his people among you (may his God be with him!) may go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may build the temple of the Lord God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 2:1

The Names of the Returning Exiles

2:1 ³⁴ These are the people ³⁵  of the province who were going up, ³⁶  from the captives of the exile whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had forced into exile in Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem ³⁷  and Judah, each to his own city.

Ezra 4:12

4:12 Now ³⁸  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. ³⁹  They are completing its walls and repairing its foundations.

Ezra 7:28

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.

[8:31]  ¹ 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).

[7:25]  ² tn Aram “in your hand.”

[7:25]  ³ tc For the MT reading שָׁפְטִין (shoftim, “judges”) the LXX uses the noun γραμματεῖς (grammatei", “scribes”).

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[1:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “arose.”

[1:5]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:14]  ⁷ tn Or “temple.”

[5:14]  ⁸ tn Aram “they were given.”

[6:18]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:18]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “according to the writing of.”

[10:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to do according to this plan.”

[3:11]  ¹² tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “great.”

[7:9]  ¹⁴ tc The translation reads יִסַּד (yissad, “he appointed” [= determined]) rather than the reading יְסֻד (yÿsud, “foundation”) of the MT. (The words “to make” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.)

[7:9]  ¹⁵ sn Apparently it took the caravan almost four months to make the five hundred mile journey.

[10:2]  ¹⁶ tc The translation reads with the Qere, many medieval Hebrew MSS, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate עֵילָם (’elam, “Elam”) rather than the reading עוֹלָם (’olam, “eternity”) found in the MT.

[10:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in that we have given a dwelling to.” So also in vv. 14, 17, 18.

[10:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[10:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “upon this.”

[4:23]  ²⁰ tn Aram “to Jerusalem against the Jews.”

[4:23]  ²¹ tn Aram “by force and power,” a hendiadys.

[8:1]  ²² tn Heb “the heads of their families.”

[2:59]  ²³ tn Heb “relate.”

[2:59]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”

[2:59]  ²⁵ tn Heb “their seed.”

[9:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I said.”

[1:11]  ²⁷ sn The total number as given in the MT does not match the numbers given for the various items in v. 9. It is not clear whether the difference is due to error in textual transmission or whether the constituent items mentioned are only a selection from a longer list, in which case the total from that longer list may have been retained. The numbers provided in 1 Esdras come much closer to agreeing with the number in Ezra 1:9-11, but this does not necessarily mean that 1 Esdras has been better preserved here than Ezra. 1 Esdras 2:13-15 (RSV) says, “The number of these was: a thousand gold cups, a thousand silver cups, twenty-nine silver censures, thirty gold bowls, two thousand four hundred and ten silver bowls, and a thousand other vessels. All the vessels were handed over, gold and silver, five thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, and they were carried back by Shesbazzar with the returning exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem.”

[7:1]  ²⁸ sn If the Artaxerxes of Ezra 7:1 is Artaxerxes I Longimanus (ca. 464–423 B.C.), Ezra must have arrived in Jerusalem ca. 458 B.C., since Ezra 7:7-8 connects the time of his arrival to the seventh year of the king. The arrival of Nehemiah is then linked to the twentieth year of the king (Neh 1:1), or ca. 445 B.C. Some scholars, however, have suggested that Ezra 7:7 should be read as “the thirty-seventh year” rather than “the seventh year.” This would have Ezra coming to Jerusalem after, rather than before, the arrival of Nehemiah. Others have taken the seventh year of Ezra 7:7-8 to refer not to Artaxerxes I but to Artaxerxes II, who ruled ca. 404–358 B.C. In this understanding Ezra would have returned to Jerusalem ca. 398 B.C., a good many years after the return of Nehemiah. Neither of these views is certain, however, and it seems better to retain the traditional understanding of the chronological sequence of returns by Ezra and Nehemiah. With this understanding there is a gap of about fifty-eight years between chapter six, which describes the dedication of the temple in 516 b.c., and chapter seven, which opens with Ezra’s coming to Jerusalem in 458 b.c.

[7:1]  ²⁹ tn The words “came up from Babylon” do not appear in the Hebrew text until v. 6. They have been supplied here for the sake of clarity.

[7:7]  ³⁰ tc The translation reads the Hiphil singular וַיַּעֲל (vayya’al, “he [Ezra] brought up”) rather than the Qal plural וַיַּעַלוּ (vayya’alu, “they came up”) of the MT.

[7:7]  tn Heb “he brought”; the referent (Ezra) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:7]  ³¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:5]  ³² tn The Hebrew word used here is a hapax legomenon. It refers to the self-abasement that accompanies religious sorrow and fasting.

[1:3]  ³³ tn Heb “from all.”

[2:1]  ³⁴ sn The list of names and numbers in this chapter of Ezra has a parallel account in Neh 7:6-73. The fact that the two lists do not always agree in specific details suggests that various textual errors have crept into the accounts during the transmission process.

[2:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the sons of.”

[2:1]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew term הָעֹלִים (ha’olim, “those who were going up” [Qal active participle]) refers to continual action in the past. Most translations render this as a simple past: “went up” (KJV), “came up” (RSV, ASV, NASV, NIV), “came” (NRSV). CEV paraphrases: “were on their way back.”

[2:1]  ³⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:12]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ 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.