Ezra 4:3

4:3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, “You have no right ¹  to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”

Ezra 5:8

5:8 Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. It is being built with large stones, ²  and timbers are being placed in the walls. This work is being done with all diligence and is prospering in their hands.

Ezra 8:22

8:22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy ³  along the way, because we had said to the king, “The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger ⁴  is against everyone who forsakes him.”

Ezra 8:33

8:33 On the fourth day we weighed out the silver, the gold, and the vessels in the house of our God into the care ⁵  of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest, and Eleazar son of Phinehas, who were accompanied by Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui, who were Levites.

Ezra 9:7-9

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 ⁶  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ⁷  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

9:8 “But now briefly ⁸  we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position ⁹  in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes ¹⁰  and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude. 9:9 Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, in that he has revived us ¹¹  to restore the temple of our God and to raise ¹²  up its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ¹³ 

---

¹ tn Heb “not to you and to us.”

² tn Aram “stones of rolling.” The reference is apparently to stones too large to carry.

³ tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).

⁴ tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).

⁵ tn Heb “upon the hand of.”

⁶ tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

⁷ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

⁸ tn Heb “according to a little moment.”

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ tn Heb “has granted us reviving.”

¹² tn Heb “to cause to stand.”

¹³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.