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 1:5

The Exiles Prepare to Return to Jerusalem

1:5 Then the leaders ²  of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites – all those whose mind God had stirred – got ready ³  to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ⁴ 

Ezra 3:2

3:2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak ⁵  and his priestly colleagues ⁶  and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his colleagues ⁷  started to build ⁸  the altar of the God of Israel so they could offer burnt offerings on it as required by ⁹  the law of Moses the man of God.

Ezra 4:2

4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders ¹⁰  and said to them, “Let us help you build, ¹¹  for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him ¹²  from the time ¹³  of King Esarhaddon ¹⁴  of Assyria, who brought us here.” ¹⁵ 

Ezra 7:6

7:6 This Ezra is the one who came up from Babylon. He was a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king supplied him with everything he requested, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

Ezra 7:28

7:28 He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

[1:3]  ¹ tn Heb “from all.”

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[1:5]  ³ tn Heb “arose.”

[1:5]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:2]  ⁵ sn Jozadak (also in 3:8) is a variant spelling of Jehozadak.

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “his brothers the priests.”

[3:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[3:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “arose and built.”

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “written in.” Cf. v. 4.

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.

[4:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Let us build with you.”

[4:2]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “days.”

[4:2]  ¹⁴ sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669 b.c.

[4:2]  ¹⁵ 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.