Ezra 1:2

1:2 “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia:

“‘The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has instructed me to build a temple ¹  for him in Jerusalem, ²  which is in Judah.

Ezra 3:9

3:9 So Jeshua appointed both his sons and his relatives, ³  Kadmiel and his sons (the sons of Yehudah ⁴ ), to take charge of the workers in the temple of God, along with the sons of Henadad, their sons, and their relatives ⁵  the Levites.

Ezra 3:11

3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ⁶  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ⁷  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established.

Ezra 5:8

5:8 Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. It is being built with large stones, ⁸  and timbers are being placed in the walls. This work is being done with all diligence and is prospering in their hands.

Ezra 6:3

6:3 In the first year of his reign, ⁹  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ¹⁰  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. ¹¹  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety ¹²  feet, ¹³ 

Ezra 6:8

6:8 “I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs are to be given to these men, so that there may be no interruption of the work. ¹⁴ 

Ezra 6:21

6:21 The Israelites who were returning from the exile ate it, along with all those who had joined them ¹⁵  in separating themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel.

Ezra 7:17

7:17 With this money you should be sure to purchase bulls, rams, and lambs, along with the appropriate ¹⁶  meal offerings and libations. You should bring them to the altar of the temple of your God which is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 9:2

9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ¹⁷  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

Ezra 9:14

9:14 Shall we once again break your commandments and intermarry with these abominable peoples? Would you not be so angered by us that you would wipe us out, with no survivor or remnant?

Ezra 10:2

10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, ¹⁸  addressed Ezra:

“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying ¹⁹  foreign women from the local peoples. ²⁰  Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard. ²¹ 

Ezra 10:9

10:9 All the men of Judah and Benjamin were gathered in Jerusalem within the three days. (It was in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of that month.) All the people sat in the square at the temple of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the rains.

[1:2]  ¹ tn Heb “house.” The Hebrew noun בַּיִת (bayit, “house”) is often used in reference to the temple of Yahweh (BDB 108 s.v. 1.a). This is also frequent elsewhere in Ezra and Nehemiah (e.g., Ezra 1:3, 4, 5, 7; 2:68; 3:8, 9, 11, 12; 4:3; 6:22; 7:27; 8:17, 25, 29, 30, 33, 36; 9:9; 10:1, 6, 9).

[1:2]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:9]  ³ tn Heb “brothers.”

[3:9]  ⁴ sn The name יְהוּדָה (Yehudah; cf. KJV, ASV, NASB “Judah”) is probably a variant of Hodaviah (see Ezra 2:40; cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[3:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “brothers.”

[3:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “great.”

[5:8]  ⁸ tn Aram “stones of rolling.” The reference is apparently to stones too large to carry.

[6:3]  ⁹ tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”

[6:3]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:3]  ¹¹ tn Aram “raised”; or perhaps “retained” (so NASB; cf. NLT), referring to the original foundations of Solomon’s temple.

[6:3]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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.

[6:8]  ¹⁴ tn The words “of the work” are not in the Aramaic, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “who had separated from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to them.”

[7:17]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “their meal offerings and their libations.”

[9:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.

[10:2]  ¹⁸ tc The translation reads with the Qere, many medieval Hebrew MSS, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate עֵילָם (’elam, “Elam”) rather than the reading עוֹלָם (’olam, “eternity”) found in the MT.

[10:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in that we have given a dwelling to.” So also in vv. 14, 17, 18.

[10:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[10:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “upon this.”