Ezra 1:5

The Exiles Prepare to Return to Jerusalem

1:5 Then the leaders ¹  of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites – all those whose mind God had stirred – got ready ²  to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ³ 

Ezra 2:62

2:62 They ⁴  searched for their records in the genealogical materials, but did not find them. ⁵  They were therefore excluded ⁶  from the priesthood.

Ezra 4:8

4:8 Rehum the commander ⁷  and Shimshai the scribe ⁸  wrote a letter concerning ⁹  Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:

Ezra 5:5

5:5 But God was watching over ¹⁰  the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped ¹¹  until a report could be dispatched ¹²  to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.

Ezra 10:7

10:7 A proclamation ¹³  was circulated ¹⁴  throughout Judah and Jerusalem ¹⁵  that all the exiles were to be assembled in Jerusalem.

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

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “arose.”

[1:5]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:62]  ⁴ tn Heb “these.”

[2:62]  ⁵ tn Heb “their records were searched for in the genealogical materials, but were not found.” This passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.

[2:62]  ⁶ tn Heb “they were desecrated.”

[4:8]  ⁷ tn Aram “lord of the command.” So also in vv. 9, 17.

[4:8]  ⁸ sn Like Rehum, Shimshai was apparently a fairly high-ranking official charged with overseeing Persian interests in this part of the empire. His title was “scribe” or “secretary,” but in a more elevated political sense than that word sometimes has elsewhere. American governmental titles such as “Secretary of State” perhaps provide an analogy in that the word “secretary” can have a broad range of meaning.

[4:8]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps “against.”

[5:5]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “the eye of their God was on.” The idiom describes the attentive care that one exercises in behalf of the object of his concern.

[5:5]  ¹¹ tn Aram “they did not stop them.”

[5:5]  ¹² tn Aram “[could] go.” On this form see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 58, §169.

[10:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “voice.”

[10:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they sent.”

[10:7]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.