1 Tawarikh 29:3-9

29:3 Now, to show my commitment to the temple of my God, I donate my personal treasure of gold and silver to the temple of my God, in addition to all that I have already supplied for this holy temple. 29:4 This includes 3,000 talents ¹  of gold from Ophir and 7,000 talents of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the buildings, 29:5 for gold and silver items, and for all the work of the craftsmen. Who else wants to contribute to the Lord today?”

29:6 The leaders of the families, the leaders of the Israelite tribes, the commanders of units of a thousand and a hundred, and the supervisors of the king’s work contributed willingly. 29:7 They donated for the service of God’s temple 5,000 talents ²  and ten thousand darics ³  of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze, and 100,000 talents of iron. 29:8 All who possessed precious ⁴  stones donated them to the treasury of the Lord’s temple, which was under the supervision of Jehiel the Gershonite. 29:9 The people were delighted with their donations, for they contributed to the Lord with a willing attitude; ⁵  King David was also very happy. ⁶ 

Ezra 7:27-28

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! 7:28 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.

Ezra 7:1

The Arrival of Ezra

7:1 Now after these things had happened, during the reign of King Artaxerxes ⁸  of Persia, Ezra came up from Babylon. ⁹  Ezra was the son of Seraiah, who was the son of Azariah, who was the son of Hilkiah,

Yohanes 3:18-19

3:18 The one who believes in him is not condemned. ¹⁰  The one who does not believe has been condemned ¹¹  already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only ¹²  Son of God. 3:19 Now this is the basis for judging: ¹³  that the light has come into the world and people ¹⁴  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.

[29:4]  ¹ tn See the note on the word “talents” in 19:6. Using the “light” standard talent of 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg) as the standard for calculation, David had supplied 101 tons (91,800 kg) of gold and 235.5 tons (214,200 kg) of silver.

[29:7]  ² tn See the note on the word “talents” in 19:6. Using the “light” standard talent of 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg) as the standard for calculation, the people donated 168.3 tons (153,000 kg) of gold, 336.5 tons (306,000 kg) of silver, 605.7 tons (550,800 kg) of bronze, and 3,365 tons (3,060,000 kg) of iron.

[29:7]  ³ tn On the “daric” as a unit of measure, see BDB 204 s.v. דַּרְכְּמוֹן. Some have regarded the daric as a minted coin, perhaps even referring to the Greek drachma, but this is less likely.

[29:7]  sn The daric was a unit of weight perhaps equal to between 8 and 9 grams (just under one-third of an ounce), so 10,000 darics of gold would weigh between 80 and 90 kilograms (between 176 and 198 pounds).

[29:8]  ⁴ tn The word “precious” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[29:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “with a complete heart.”

[29:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “was rejoiced with great joy.”

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

[7:1]  ⁸ sn If the Artaxerxes of Ezra 7:1 is Artaxerxes I Longimanus (ca. 464–423 B.C.), Ezra must have arrived in Jerusalem ca. 458 B.C., since Ezra 7:7-8 connects the time of his arrival to the seventh year of the king. The arrival of Nehemiah is then linked to the twentieth year of the king (Neh 1:1), or ca. 445 B.C. Some scholars, however, have suggested that Ezra 7:7 should be read as “the thirty-seventh year” rather than “the seventh year.” This would have Ezra coming to Jerusalem after, rather than before, the arrival of Nehemiah. Others have taken the seventh year of Ezra 7:7-8 to refer not to Artaxerxes I but to Artaxerxes II, who ruled ca. 404–358 B.C. In this understanding Ezra would have returned to Jerusalem ca. 398 B.C., a good many years after the return of Nehemiah. Neither of these views is certain, however, and it seems better to retain the traditional understanding of the chronological sequence of returns by Ezra and Nehemiah. With this understanding there is a gap of about fifty-eight years between chapter six, which describes the dedication of the temple in 516 b.c., and chapter seven, which opens with Ezra’s coming to Jerusalem in 458 b.c.

[7:1]  ⁹ tn The words “came up from Babylon” do not appear in the Hebrew text until v. 6. They have been supplied here for the sake of clarity.

[3:18]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “judged.”

[3:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “judged.”

[3:18]  ¹² tn See the note on the term “one and only” in 3:16.

[3:19]  ¹³ tn Or “this is the reason for God judging,” or “this is how judgment works.”

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and men,” but in a generic sense, referring to people of both genders (as “everyone” in v. 20 makes clear).