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, ¹  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 ²  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 ³  is against everyone who forsakes him.”

Ezra 9:7

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 ⁴  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ⁵  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

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¹ tn Aram “stones of rolling.” The reference is apparently to stones too large to carry.

² tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).

³ tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).

⁴ tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

⁵ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”