Ezra 6:22

6:22 They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had given them joy and had changed the opinion ¹  of the king of Assyria ²  toward them, so that he assisted ³  them in the work on the temple of God, the God of Israel.

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.

Ezra 10:9

10:9 All the men of Judah and Benjamin were gathered in Jerusalem within the three days. (It was in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of that month.) All the people sat in the square at the temple of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the rains.

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¹ tn Heb “heart.”

² sn The expression “king of Assyria” is anachronistic, since Assyria fell in 612 b.c., long before the events of this chapter. Perhaps the expression is intended subtly to contrast earlier kings of Assyria who were hostile toward Israel with this Persian king who showed them favor.

³ tn Heb “to strengthen their hands.”

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

⁵ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”