Ezra 1:2-5

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. 1:3 Anyone from ³  his people among you (may his God be with him!) may go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may build the temple of the Lord God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 1:4 Anyone who survives in any of those places where he is a resident foreigner must be helped by his neighbors ⁴  with silver, gold, equipment, and animals, along with voluntary offerings for the temple of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

The Exiles Prepare to Return to Jerusalem

1:5 Then the leaders ⁵  of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites – all those whose mind God had stirred – got ready ⁶  to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ⁷ 

Ezra 2:70

2:70 The priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel lived in their towns.

Ezra 3:6

3:6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. However, the Lord’s temple was not at that time established. ⁸ 

Ezra 3:12

3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ⁹  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ¹⁰  – were weeping loudly, ¹¹  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout.

Ezra 4:24

4:24 So the work on the temple of God in Jerusalem came to a halt. It remained halted until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia. ¹² 

Ezra 5:2-3

5:2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak began ¹³  to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

5:3 At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority ¹⁴  to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” ¹⁵ 

Ezra 5:11-12

5:11 They responded to us in the following way: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king ¹⁶  of Israel built it and completed it. 5:12 But after our ancestors ¹⁷  angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands ¹⁸  of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon. ¹⁹ 

Ezra 5:16

5:16 Then this Sheshbazzar went and laid the foundations of the temple of God in Jerusalem. From that time to the present moment ²⁰  it has been in the process of being rebuilt, although it is not yet finished.’

Ezra 6:17

6:17 For the dedication of this temple of God they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

Ezra 7:7

7:7 In the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, Ezra brought ²¹  up to Jerusalem ²²  some of the Israelites and some of the priests, the Levites, the attendants, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants.

Ezra 7:16-17

7:16 along with all the silver and gold that you may collect ²³  throughout all the province of Babylon and the contributions of the people and the priests for the temple of their God which is in Jerusalem. 7:17 With this money you should be sure to purchase bulls, rams, and lambs, along with the appropriate ²⁴  meal offerings and libations. You should bring them to the altar of the temple of your God which is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 7:23

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 ²⁵  against the empire of the king and his sons?

Ezra 7:27

7:27 ²⁶ 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!

Ezra 8:25

8:25 and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels intended for the temple of our God – items that the king, his advisers, his officials, and all Israel who were present had contributed.

Ezra 8:29-30

8:29 Be careful with them and protect them, until you weigh them out before the leading priests and the Levites and the family leaders of Israel in Jerusalem, ²⁷  in the storerooms of the temple of the Lord.”

8:30 Then the priests and the Levites took charge of ²⁸  the silver, the gold, and the vessels that had been weighed out, to transport them to Jerusalem to the temple of our God.

Ezra 8:36

8:36 Then they presented the decrees of the king to the king’s satraps and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, who gave help to the people and to the temple of God.

Ezra 10:1

The People Confess Their Sins

10:1 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites – men, women, and children alike – gathered around him. The people wept loudly. ²⁹ 

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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).

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

³ tn Heb “from all.”

⁴ tn Heb “the men of his place.”

⁵ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

⁶ tn Heb “arose.”

⁷ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁸ tn Or “the foundation of the LORD’s temple was not yet laid.

⁹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

¹⁰ sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

¹¹ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

¹² sn Darius I Hystaspes ruled Persia ca. 522–486 b.c.

¹³ tn Aram “arose and began.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a single concept.

¹⁴ tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.

¹⁵ 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).

¹⁶ sn This great king of Israel would, of course, be Solomon.

¹⁷ tn Aram “fathers.”

¹⁸ tn Aram “hand” (singular).

¹⁹ sn A reference to the catastrophic events of 586 b.c.

²⁰ tn Aram “from then and until now.”

²¹ tc The translation reads the Hiphil singular וַיַּעֲל (vayya’al, “he [Ezra] brought up”) rather than the Qal plural וַיַּעַלוּ (vayya’alu, “they came up”) of the MT.

tn Heb “he brought”; the referent (Ezra) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²² map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

²³ tn Aram “find.”

²⁴ tn Aram “their meal offerings and their libations.”

²⁵ 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.

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

²⁷ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

²⁸ tn Heb “received.”

²⁹ tn Heb “with much weeping.”