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 6:14

6:14 The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time ⁷  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 9:7-8

9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ⁸  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ⁹  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

9:8 “But now briefly ¹⁰  we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position ¹¹  in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes ¹²  and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude.

Ezra 10:14

10:14 Let our leaders take steps ¹³  on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

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¹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.

² tn Heb “Let us build with you.”

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 tn Heb “days.”

⁵ sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669 b.c.

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.

⁷ tn Aram “in” or “by,” in the sense of accompaniment.

⁸ tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

⁹ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “according to a little moment.”

¹¹ tn Heb “a peg” or “tent peg.” The imagery behind this word is drawn from the experience of nomads who put down pegs as they pitched their tents and made camp after times of travel.

¹² tn Heb “to cause our eyes to shine.” The expression is a figure of speech for “to revive.” See DCH 1:160 s.v. אור Hi.7.

¹³ tn Heb “stand.”