Ezra 2:68

2:68 When they came to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders ¹  offered voluntary offerings for the temple of God in order to rebuild ²  it on its site.

Ezra 5:2-3

5:2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak began ³  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 ⁴  to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” ⁵ 

Ezra 6:7

6:7 Leave the work on this temple of God alone. ⁶  Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this temple of God in its proper place.

---

¹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

² tn Heb “cause it to stand.”

³ tn Aram “arose and began.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a single concept.

⁴ tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.

⁵ 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 tc For the MT reading “the work on this temple of God” the LXX reads “the servant of the Lord Zurababel” [= Zerubbabel].