Ezra 1:3

1:3 Anyone from ¹  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 4:2

4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders ²  and said to them, “Let us help you build, ³  for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him ⁴  from the time ⁵  of King Esarhaddon ⁶  of Assyria, who brought us here.” ⁷ 

Ezra 6:12

6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation ⁸  who reaches out ⁹  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 10:14

10:14 Let our leaders take steps ¹⁰  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.”

[1:3]  ¹ tn Heb “from all.”

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

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “Let us build with you.”

[4:2]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “days.”

[4:2]  ⁶ sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669 b.c.

[4:2]  ⁷ 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.

[6:12]  ⁸ tn Aram “people.”

[6:12]  ⁹ tn Aram “who sends forth his hand.”

[10:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stand.”