Ezra 4:2

4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders ¹  and said to them, “Let us help you build, ²  for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him ³  from the time ⁴  of King Esarhaddon ⁵  of Assyria, who brought us here.” ⁶ 

Ezra 5:3

5:3 At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority ⁷  to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” ⁸ 

Ezra 6:14

6:14 The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time ⁹  Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought it to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

Ezra 9:9

9:9 Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, in that he has revived us ¹⁰  to restore the temple of our God and to raise ¹¹  up its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ¹² 

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.

[4:2]  ² tn Heb “Let us build with you.”

[4:2]  ³ tc The translation reads with the Qere, a Qumran MS, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Arabic version וְלוֹ (vÿlo, “and him”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “days.”

[4:2]  ⁵ sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669 b.c.

[4:2]  ⁶ sn The Assyrian policy had been to resettle Samaria with peoples from other areas (cf. 2 Kgs 17:24-34). These immigrants acknowledged Yahweh as well as other deities in some cases. The Jews who returned from the Exile regarded them with suspicion and were not hospitable to their offer of help in rebuilding the temple.

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.

[5:3]  ⁸ tn The exact meaning of the Aramaic word אֻשַּׁרְנָא (’ussarna’) here and in v. 9 is uncertain (BDB 1083 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it to mean “wall.” Here it is used in collocation with בַּיְתָא (bayta’, “house” as the temple of God), while in 5:3, 9 it is used in parallelism with this term. It might be related to the Assyrian noun ashurru (“wall”) or ashru (“sanctuary”; so BDB). F. Rosenthal, who translates the word “furnishings,” thinks that it probably enters Aramaic from Persian (Grammar, 62-63, §189).

[6:14]  ⁹ tn Aram “in” or “by,” in the sense of accompaniment.

[9:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “has granted us reviving.”

[9:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to cause to stand.”

[9:9]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.