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 9:1-2

A Prayer of Ezra

9:1 Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents ⁷  who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ⁸  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

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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 Heb “the peoples of the lands.” So also in v. 2.

⁸ tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.