Ezra 7:19-23

7:19 Deliver to ¹  the God of Jerusalem the vessels that are given to you for the service of the temple of your God. 7:20 The rest of the needs for the temple of your God that you may have to supply, ²  you may do so from the royal treasury.

7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ³  Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you – 7:22 up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of olive oil, ⁴  and unlimited ⁵  salt. 7:23 Everything that the God of heaven has required should be precisely done for the temple of the God of heaven. Why should there be wrath ⁶  against the empire of the king and his sons?

Ezra 7:27

7:27 ⁷ Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who so moved in the heart of the king to so honor the temple of the Lord which is in Jerusalem!

[7:19]  ¹ tn Or “before.”

[7:20]  ² tn Aram “may fall to you to give.”

[7:21]  ³ tn Aram “who are in.”

[7:22]  ⁴ tc The translation reads מְשַׁח בַּתִּין (mÿshakh battin) rather than מְשַׁח בַּתִּין (battin mÿshakh) of the MT.

[7:22]  ⁵ tn Aram “he did not write.”

[7:23]  ⁶ tn The Aramaic word used here for “wrath” (קְצַף, qÿtsaf; cf. Heb קָצַף, qatsaf) is usually used in the Hebrew Bible for God’s anger as opposed to human anger (but contra Eccl 5:17 [MT 5:16]; Esth 1:18; 2 Kgs 3:27). The fact that this word is used in v. 23 may have theological significance, pointing to the possibility of divine judgment if the responsible parties should fail to make available these provisions for the temple.

[7:27]  ⁷ sn At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (7:12-26) back to Hebrew.