Ezra 4:2

4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders ¹  and said to them, “Let us help you build, ²  for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him ³  from the time ⁴  of King Esarhaddon ⁵  of Assyria, who brought us here.” ⁶ 

Ezra 7:9

7:9 On the first day of the first month he had determined to make ⁷  the ascent from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem, ⁸  for the good hand of his God was on him.

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.

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

[4:2]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “days.”

[4:2]  ⁵ sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669 b.c.

[4:2]  ⁶ 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.

[7:9]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ sn Apparently it took the caravan almost four months to make the five hundred mile journey.