Ezra 2:68

2:68 When they came to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders ¹  offered voluntary offerings for the temple of God in order to rebuild ²  it on its site.

Ezra 3:4

3:4 They observed the Festival of Temporary Shelters ³  as required ⁴  and offered the proper number of ⁵  daily burnt offerings according to the requirement for each day.

Ezra 4:1

Opposition to the Building Efforts

4:1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin learned that the former exiles ⁶  were building a temple for the Lord God of Israel,

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 4:10

4:10 and the rest of nations whom the great and noble Ashurbanipal ¹⁰  deported and settled in the cities ¹¹  of Samaria and other places in Trans-Euphrates. ¹² 

Ezra 5:1

Tattenai Appeals to Darius

5:1 Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son ¹³  of Iddo ¹⁴  prophesied concerning the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem ¹⁵  in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

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, ¹⁶  in accord with ¹⁷  the book of Moses.

Ezra 7:7

7:7 In the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, Ezra brought ¹⁸  up to Jerusalem ¹⁹  some of the Israelites and some of the priests, the Levites, the attendants, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants.

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 ²⁰  against the empire of the king and his sons?

Ezra 8:16

8:16 So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, ²¹  Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders, and Joiarib and Elnathan, who were teachers.

Ezra 8:28

8:28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

Ezra 10:7

10:7 A proclamation ²²  was circulated ²³  throughout Judah and Jerusalem ²⁴  that all the exiles were to be assembled in Jerusalem.

Ezra 10:10

10:10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.

[2:68]  ¹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[2:68]  ² tn Heb “cause it to stand.”

[3:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew phrase אֶת חַג־הַסֻּכּוֹת (’et khag-hassukot, “festival of huts” [or “shelters”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The rendering “booths” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is probably better than the traditional “tabernacles” in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut; booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. The nature of the celebration during this feast as a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt suggests that a translation like “temporary shelters” is more appropriate.

[3:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “according to what is written.”

[3:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “by number.”

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the sons of the exile.”

[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.”

[4:10]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “Osnappar” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), another name for Ashurbanipal.

[4:10]  sn Ashurbanipal succeeded his father Esarhaddon as king of Assyria in 669 B.C. Around 645 B.C. he sacked the city of Susa, capital of Elam, and apparently some of these people were exiled to Samaria and other places.

[4:10]  ¹¹ tc The translation reads with the ancient versions the plural בְּקֻרְיַהּ (bÿquryah, “in the cities”) rather than the singular (“in the city”) of the MT.

[4:10]  ¹² tn Aram “beyond the river.” In Ezra this term is a technical designation for the region west of the Euphrates river.

[5:1]  ¹³ tn Aram “son.” According to Zech 1:1 he was actually the grandson of Iddo.

[5:1]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “and Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo the prophet.”

[5:1]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:18]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:18]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “according to the writing of.”

[7:7]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[7:23]  ²⁰ 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.

[8:16]  ²¹ tc The name “Elnathan” occurs twice in this list. Some, assuming an accidental repetition, would include it only once (cf. NAB).

[10:7]  ²² tn Heb “voice.”

[10:7]  ²³ tn Heb “they sent.”

[10:7]  ²⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.