Ezra 4:5

4:5 They were hiring advisers to oppose them, so as to frustrate their plans, throughout the time ¹  of King Cyrus of Persia until the reign of King Darius ²  of Persia. ³ 

Ezra 4:4

4:4 Then the local people ⁴  began to discourage ⁵  the people of Judah and to dishearten them from building.

Ezra 10:15-16

10:15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah were ⁶  against this, assisted by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite. 10:16 So the exiles proceeded accordingly. Ezra the priest separated out ⁷  by name men who were leaders in their family groups. ⁸  They sat down to consider this matter on the first day of the tenth month,

[4:5]  ¹ tn Heb “all the days of.”

[4:5]  ² sn Darius ruled Persia ca. 522-486 B.C.

[4:5]  ³ sn The purpose of the opening verses of this chapter is to summarize why the Jews returning from the exile were unable to complete the rebuilding of the temple more quickly than they did. The delay was due not to disinterest on their part but to the repeated obstacles that had been placed in their path by determined foes.

[4:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “the people of the land.” Elsewhere this expression sometimes has a negative connotation, referring to a lay population that was less zealous for Judaism than it should have been. Here, however, it seems to refer to the resident population of the area without any negative connotation.

[4:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “were making slack the hands of.”

[10:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “stood.”

[10:16]  ⁷ tc The translation reads the Hiphil singular וַיַּבְדֵּל לוֹ (vayyavdel lo, “separated for himself”) rather than the Niphal plural וַיִּבָּדְלוּ (vayyibbadÿlu, “were separated”) of the MT.

[10:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers, to the house of their fathers, and all of them by name.”