Ezra 5:14

5:14 Even the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had brought to the palace 1  of Babylon – even those things King Cyrus brought from the palace of Babylon and presented 2  to a man by the name of Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed as governor.

Ezra 6:3

6:3 In the first year of his reign, 3  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: 4  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. 5  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety 6  feet, 7 

Ezra 8:17

8:17 I sent them to Iddo, who was the leader in the place called Casiphia. I told them 8  what to say to Iddo and his relatives, 9  who were the temple servants in 10  Casiphia, so they would bring us attendants for the temple of our God.

1 tn Or “temple.”

2 tn Aram “they were given.”

3 tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”

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

5 tn Aram “raised”; or perhaps “retained” (so NASB; cf. NLT), referring to the original foundations of Solomon’s temple.

6 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.

7 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.

8 tn Heb “I placed in their mouth words.”

9 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.

10 tn Heb “in the place called.” This phrase has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.