Ezra 3:12-13

3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ¹  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ²  – were weeping loudly, ³  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. 3:13 People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly ⁴  that the sound was heard a long way off.

Mazmur 71:7

71:7 Many are appalled when they see me, ⁵ 

but you are my secure shelter.

Zakharia 3:8

3:8 Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you ⁶  are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch. ⁷ 

[3:12]  ¹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[3:12]  ² sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

[3:12]  ³ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

[3:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “a great shout.”

[71:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “like a sign [i.e., portent or bad omen] I am to many.”

[3:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “these men.” The cleansing of Joshua and his elevation to enhanced leadership as a priest signify the coming of the messianic age.

[3:8]  ⁷ sn The collocation of servant and branch gives double significance to the messianic meaning of the passage (cf. Isa 41:8, 9; 42:1, 19; 43:10; 44:1, 2, 21; Ps 132:17; Jer 23:5; 33:15).