Ezra 6:22

6:22 They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had given them joy and had changed the opinion ¹  of the king of Assyria ²  toward them, so that he assisted ³  them in the work on the temple of God, the God of Israel.

Ezra 4:21

4:21 Now give orders that these men cease their work and that this city not be rebuilt until such time as I so instruct. ⁴ 

Ezra 6:3

6:3 In the first year of his reign, ⁵  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ⁶  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. ⁷  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety ⁸  feet, ⁹ 

Ezra 4:23

4:23 Then, as soon as the copy of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read in the presence of Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they proceeded promptly to the Jews in Jerusalem ¹⁰  and stopped them with threat of armed force. ¹¹ 

[6:22]  ¹ tn Heb “heart.”

[6:22]  ² sn The expression “king of Assyria” is anachronistic, since Assyria fell in 612 b.c., long before the events of this chapter. Perhaps the expression is intended subtly to contrast earlier kings of Assyria who were hostile toward Israel with this Persian king who showed them favor.

[6:22]  ³ tn Heb “to strengthen their hands.”

[4:21]  ⁴ tn Aram “until a command is issued from me.”

[6:3]  ⁵ tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”

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

[6:3]  ⁷ tn Aram “raised”; or perhaps “retained” (so NASB; cf. NLT), referring to the original foundations of Solomon’s temple.

[6:3]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[4:23]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “to Jerusalem against the Jews.”

[4:23]  ¹¹ tn Aram “by force and power,” a hendiadys.