5:17 “Now if the king is so inclined, 13 let a search be conducted in the royal archives 14 there in Babylon in order to determine whether King Cyrus did in fact issue orders for this temple of God to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us a decision concerning this matter.”
6:8 “I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs are to be given to these men, so that there may be no interruption of the work. 20 6:9 Whatever is needed – whether oxen or rams or lambs or burnt offerings for the God of heaven or wheat or salt or wine or oil, as required by 21 the priests who are in Jerusalem – must be given to them daily without any neglect,
8:18 Due to the fact that the good hand of our God was on us, they brought us a skilled man, from the descendants of Mahli the son of Levi son of Israel. This man was Sherebiah, 26 who was accompanied by his sons and brothers, 27 18 men,
8:35 The exiles who were returning from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel – twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven male lambs, along with twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.
10:9 All the men of Judah and Benjamin were gathered in Jerusalem within the three days. (It was in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of that month.) All the people sat in the square at the temple of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the rains.
1 tn Heb “brothers.”
2 sn The name יְהוּדָה (Yehudah; cf. KJV, ASV, NASB “Judah”) is probably a variant of Hodaviah (see Ezra 2:40; cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
3 tn Heb “brothers.”
4 tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.
5 tn Heb “Let us build with you.”
6 tc The translation reads with the Qere, a Qumran
7 tn Heb “days.”
8 sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669
9 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.
10 tn Aram “stones of rolling.” The reference is apparently to stones too large to carry.
11 tn Or “temple.”
12 tn Aram “they were given.”
13 tn Aram “if upon the king it is good.”
14 tn Aram “the house of the treasures of the king.”
15 tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”
16 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
17 tn Aram “raised”; or perhaps “retained” (so NASB; cf. NLT), referring to the original foundations of Solomon’s temple.
18 tc The Syriac Peshitta reads “twenty cubits” here, a measurement probably derived from dimensions given elsewhere for Solomon’s temple. According to 1 Kgs 6:2 the dimensions of the Solomonic temple were as follows: length, 60 cubits; width, 20 cubits; height, 30 cubits. Since one would expect the dimensions cited in Ezra 6:3 to correspond to those of Solomon’s temple, it is odd that no dimension for length is provided. The Syriac has apparently harmonized the width dimension provided here (“twenty cubits”) to that given in 1 Kgs 6:2.
19 tn Aram “Its height sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.
20 tn The words “of the work” are not in the Aramaic, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
21 tn Aram “according to the word of.”
22 tn Aram “in” or “by,” in the sense of accompaniment.
23 tn Heb “I placed in their mouth words.”
24 tc The translation reads with the LXX and Vulgate וְאֶחָיו (vÿ’ekhayv, “and his brethren” = “relatives”; so NCV, NLT) rather than the reading אָחִיו (’akhiyv, “his brother”) of the MT.
25 tn Heb “in the place called.” This phrase has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
26 tn Heb “and Sherebiah.” The words “this man was” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
27 tn Or “relatives” (so CEV; NRSV “kin”); also in v. 19.
28 tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).
29 tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).
30 tn Heb “upon the hand of.”
31 tc The translation reads וַיָּלֶן (vayyalen, “and he stayed”) rather than the reading וַיֵּלֶךְ (vayyelekh, “and he went”) of the MT. Cf. the LXX.
32 tn Heb “stand.”