2 Tawarikh 36:23

36:23 It read: “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: ‘The Lord God of the heavens has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build for him a temple in Jerusalem ¹  in Judah. May the Lord your God energize you who belong to his people, so you may be able to go back there!” ² 

Ezra 1:2

1:2 “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia:

“‘The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has instructed me to build a temple ³  for him in Jerusalem, ⁴  which is in Judah.

Ezra 5:11-12

5:11 They responded to us in the following way: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king ⁵  of Israel built it and completed it. 5:12 But after our ancestors ⁶  angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands ⁷  of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon. ⁸ 

Ezra 6:10

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. ⁹ 

Ezra 7:12

7:12 ¹⁰ “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the perfect law of the God of heaven:

Ezra 7:21

7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ¹¹  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 7:23

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 ¹²  against the empire of the king and his sons?

Nehemia 1:4

1:4 When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, ¹³  crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Nehemia 2:4

2:4 The king responded, ¹⁴  “What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven

Mazmur 136:26

136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven,

for his loyal love endures!

Daniel 2:18-19

2:18 He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ¹⁵  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 2:19 Then in a night vision the mystery was revealed to Daniel. So Daniel praised ¹⁶  the God of heaven,

Daniel 2:44

2:44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.

Yunus 1:9

1:9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew! And I worship ¹⁷  the Lord, ¹⁸  the God of heaven, ¹⁹  who made the sea and the dry land.”

[36:23]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:23]  ² tn Heb “Whoever [is] among you from all his people – may the Lord his God [be] with him so that he may go up.”

[1:2]  ³ tn Heb “house.” The Hebrew noun בַּיִת (bayit, “house”) is often used in reference to the temple of Yahweh (BDB 108 s.v. 1.a). This is also frequent elsewhere in Ezra and Nehemiah (e.g., Ezra 1:3, 4, 5, 7; 2:68; 3:8, 9, 11, 12; 4:3; 6:22; 7:27; 8:17, 25, 29, 30, 33, 36; 9:9; 10:1, 6, 9).

[1:2]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:11]  ⁵ sn This great king of Israel would, of course, be Solomon.

[5:12]  ⁶ tn Aram “fathers.”

[5:12]  ⁷ tn Aram “hand” (singular).

[5:12]  ⁸ sn A reference to the catastrophic events of 586 b.c.

[6:10]  ⁹ tn Aram “for the life of the king and his sons.”

[7:12]  ¹⁰ sn Ezra 7:12-26 is written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew.

[7:21]  ¹¹ tn Aram “who are in.”

[7:23]  ¹² 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.

[1:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “sat down.” Context suggests that this was a rather sudden action, resulting from the emotional shock of the unpleasant news, so “abruptly” has been supplied in the present translation.

[2:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “said to me.”

[2:18]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “Daniel.” The proper name is redundant here in English, and has not been included in the translation.

[2:19]  ¹⁶ tn Or “blessed.”

[1:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “fear.” The verb יָרֵא (yare’) has a broad range of meanings, including “to fear, to worship, to revere, to respect” (BDB 431 s.v.). When God is the object, it normally means “to fear” (leading to obedience; BDB 431 s.v. 1) or “to worship” (= to stand in awe of; BDB 431 s.v. 2). Because the fear of God leads to wisdom and obedience, that is probably not the sense here. Instead Jonah professes to be a loyal Yahwist – in contrast to the pagan Phoenician sailors who worshiped false gods, he worshiped the one true God. Unfortunately his worship of the Lord lacked the necessary moral prerequisite.

[1:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “The Lord, the God of heaven, I fear.” The Hebrew word order is unusual. Normally the verb appears first, but here the direct object “the Lord, the God of heaven” precedes the verb. Jonah emphasizes the object of his worship. In contrast to the Phoenician sailors who worship pagan polytheistic gods, Jonah took pride in his theological orthodoxy. Ironically, his “fear” of the Lord in this case was limited to this profession of theological orthodoxy because his actions betrayed his refusal to truly “fear” God by obeying him.

[1:9]  sn The word fear appears in v. 5, here in v. 9, and later in vv. 10 and 16. Except for this use in v. 9, every other use describes the sailors’ response (emotional fear prompting physical actions) to the storm or to the Lord. By contrast, Jonah claims to fear God but his attitude and actions do not reflect this. It is clear that Jonah does not “fear” in the same way that they do.

[1:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the God of the heavens.” The noun שָׁמַיִם (shamayim, “heavens”) always appears in the dual form. Although the dual form sometimes refers to things that exist in pairs, the dual is often used to refer to geographical locations, e.g., יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (yÿrushalayim, “Jerusalem”), אֶפְרַיִם (’efrayim, “Ephraim”), and מִצְרַיִם (mitsrayim, “Egypt,” but see IBHS 118 §7.3d). The dual form of שָׁמַיִם does not refer to two different kinds of heavens or to two levels of heaven; it simply refers to “heaven” as a location – the dwelling place of God. Jonah’s point is that he worships the High God of heaven – the one enthroned over all creation.