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 temple¹ for him in Jerusalem,² which is in Judah.

Ezra 1:4-5

1:4 Anyone who survives in any of those places where he is a resident foreigner must be helped by his neighbors³ 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 leaders⁴ of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites – all those whose mind God had stirred – got ready⁵ to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.⁶

Ezra 2:68

2:68 When they came to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders⁷ offered voluntary offerings for the temple of God in order to rebuild⁸ it on its site.

Ezra 4:24--5:1

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.⁹

Tattenai Appeals to Darius

5:1 Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son¹⁰ of Iddo¹¹ prophesied concerning the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem¹² in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

Ezra 5:5

5:5 But God was watching over¹³ the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped¹⁴ until a report could be dispatched¹⁵ to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.

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 king¹⁶ of Israel built it and completed it. 5:12 But after our ancestors¹⁷ angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands¹⁸ 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 moment²⁰ 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 6:21

6:21 The Israelites who were returning from the exile ate it, along with all those who had joined them²¹ in separating themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel.

Ezra 7:9

7:9 On the first day of the first month he had determined to make²² the ascent from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem,²³ for the good hand of his God was on him.

Ezra 7:16-17

7:16 along with all the silver and gold that you may collect²⁴ 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 appropriate²⁵ meal offerings and libations. You should bring them to the altar of the temple of your God which is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 7:21

7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of²⁶ Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –

Ezra 7:24

7:24 Furthermore, be aware of the fact²⁷ that you have no authority to impose tax, tribute, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the musicians, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or the attendants at the temple of this God.

Ezra 7:26-27

7:26 Everyone who does not observe both the law of your God and the law of the king will be completely²⁸ liable to the appropriate penalty, whether it is death or banishment or confiscation of property or detainment in prison.”

7:27 ²⁹Blessed 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 8:21

8:21 I called for a fast there by the Ahava Canal, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey³⁰ for us, our children, and all our property.

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 8:28

8:28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

Ezra 8:30-31

8:30 Then the priests and the Levites took charge of³¹ the silver, the gold, and the vessels that had been weighed out, to transport them to Jerusalem to the temple of our God.

8:31 On the twelfth day of the first month we began traveling from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from our enemy and from bandits³² along the way.

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 9:4-5

9:4 Everyone who held the words of the God of Israel in awe³³ gathered around me because of the unfaithful acts of the people of the exile.³⁴ Devastated, I continued to sit there until the evening offering.

9:5 At the time of the evening offering I got up from my self-abasement,³⁵ with my tunic and robe torn, and then dropped to my knees and spread my hands to the Lord my God.

Ezra 9:13

9:13 “Everything that has happened to us has come about because of our wicked actions and our great guilt. Even so, our God, you have exercised restraint³⁶ toward our iniquities and have given us a remnant such as this.

Ezra 9:15--10:2

9:15 O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day. Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt. However, because of this guilt³⁷ no one can really stand before you.”

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.³⁸ 10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam,³⁹ addressed Ezra:

“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying⁴⁰ foreign women from the local peoples.⁴¹ Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard.⁴²

¹tn 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).

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

³tn Heb “the men of his place.”

⁴tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

⁵tn Heb “arose.”

⁶map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁷tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

⁸tn Heb “cause it to stand.”

⁹sn Darius I Hystaspes ruled Persia ca. 522–486 b.c.

¹⁰tn Aram “son.” According to Zech 1:1 he was actually the grandson of Iddo.

¹¹tn Aram “and Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo the prophet.”

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

¹³tn Aram “the eye of their God was on.” The idiom describes the attentive care that one exercises in behalf of the object of his concern.

¹⁴tn Aram “they did not stop them.”

¹⁵tn Aram “[could] go.” On this form see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 58, §169.

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

¹⁷tn Aram “fathers.”

¹⁸tn Aram “hand” (singular).

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

²⁰tn Aram “from then and until now.”

²¹tn Heb “who had separated from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to them.”

²²tc The translation reads יִסַּד (yissad, “he appointed” [= determined]) rather than the reading יְסֻד (yÿsud, “foundation”) of the MT. (The words “to make” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.)

²³sn Apparently it took the caravan almost four months to make the five hundred mile journey.

²⁴tn Aram “find.”

²⁵tn Aram “their meal offerings and their libations.”

²⁶tn Aram “who are in.”

²⁷tn Aram “we are making known to you.”

²⁸tn On the meaning of this word see HALOT 1820-21 s.v. אָסְפַּרְנָא; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 14.

²⁹sn At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (7:12-26) back to Hebrew.

³⁰tn Heb “a straight way.”

³¹tn Heb “received.”

³²tn Heb “from the hand of the enemy and the one who lies in wait.” Some modern English versions render the latter phrase as “ambushes” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

³³tn Heb “who trembled at the words of the God of Israel.”

³⁴tn Heb “the exile”; the words “the people” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

³⁵tn The Hebrew word used here is a hapax legomenon. It refers to the self-abasement that accompanies religious sorrow and fasting.

³⁶tn Heb “held back downwards from”; KJV “hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve” (NIV, NRSV, NLT all similar).

³⁷tn Heb “this”; the referent (the guilt mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁸tn Heb “with much weeping.”

³⁹tc 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.

⁴⁰tn Heb “in that we have given a dwelling to.” So also in vv. 14, 17, 18.

⁴¹tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

⁴²tn Heb “upon this.”