Ezra 5:16

5:16 Then this Sheshbazzar went and laid the foundations of the temple of God in Jerusalem. From that time to the present moment ¹  it has been in the process of being rebuilt, although it is not yet finished.’

Ezra 6:3

6:3 In the first year of his reign, ²  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ³  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. ⁴  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety ⁵  feet, ⁶ 

[5:16]  ¹ tn Aram “from then and until now.”

[6:3]  ² tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”

[6:3]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:3]  ⁴ tn Aram “raised”; or perhaps “retained” (so NASB; cf. NLT), referring to the original foundations of Solomon’s temple.

[6:3]  ⁵ tc The Syriac Peshitta reads “twenty cubits” here, a measurement probably derived from dimensions given elsewhere for Solomon’s temple. According to 1 Kgs 6:2 the dimensions of the Solomonic temple were as follows: length, 60 cubits; width, 20 cubits; height, 30 cubits. Since one would expect the dimensions cited in Ezra 6:3 to correspond to those of Solomon’s temple, it is odd that no dimension for length is provided. The Syriac has apparently harmonized the width dimension provided here (“twenty cubits”) to that given in 1 Kgs 6:2.

[6:3]  ⁶ tn Aram “Its height sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.