Discovery BoxEzra 1:6 
Context1:6 All their neighbors assisted 1 them with silver utensils, 2 gold, equipment, animals, and expensive gifts, not to mention 3 all the voluntary offerings.
Ezra 1:11
Context1:11 All these gold and silver vessels totaled 5,400. 4 Sheshbazzar brought them all along when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
Ezra 2:62-63
Context2:62 They 5 searched for their records in the genealogical materials, but did not find them. 6 They were therefore excluded 7 from the priesthood. 2:63 The governor 8 instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult 9 the Urim and Thummim.
Ezra 5:9
Context5:9 We inquired of those elders, asking them, ‘Who gave you the authority to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?’
Ezra 5:15
Context5:15 He said to him, “Take these vessels and go deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt in its proper location.” 10
Ezra 8:1
Context8:1 These are the leaders 11 and those enrolled with them by genealogy who were coming up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:
Ezra 8:13
Context8:13 from the descendants of Adonikam there were the latter ones. 12 Their names were Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men;
Ezra 8:20
Context8:20 and some of the temple servants that David and his officials had established for the work of the Levites – 220 of them. They were all designated by name.
1 tn Heb “strengthened their hands.”
2 tc The MT reads בִּכְלֵי־כֶסֶף (bikhley khesef, “with silver vessels”). However, part of the LXX manuscript tradition reads ἐν πᾶσιν ἀργυρίῳ (en pasin arguriw), which reflects an alternate Hebrew reading of בַּכֹּל־בַּכֶּסֶף (bakkol-bakkesef, “everywhere, with silver”). The textual variant involves (1) simple omission of yod (י) between two words, a common scribal mistake; (2) haplography of the preposition bet (בּ); and (3) an alternate vocalization tradition of the first term.
3 tn Heb “besides” or “in addition to.”
4 sn The total number as given in the MT does not match the numbers given for the various items in v. 9. It is not clear whether the difference is due to error in textual transmission or whether the constituent items mentioned are only a selection from a longer list, in which case the total from that longer list may have been retained. The numbers provided in 1 Esdras come much closer to agreeing with the number in Ezra 1:9-11, but this does not necessarily mean that 1 Esdras has been better preserved here than Ezra. 1 Esdras 2:13-15 (RSV) says, “The number of these was: a thousand gold cups, a thousand silver cups, twenty-nine silver censures, thirty gold bowls, two thousand four hundred and ten silver bowls, and a thousand other vessels. All the vessels were handed over, gold and silver, five thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, and they were carried back by Shesbazzar with the returning exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem.”
5 tn Heb “these.”
6 tn Heb “their records were searched for in the genealogical materials, but were not found.” This passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Heb “they were desecrated.”
8 tn The Hebrew word תִּרְשָׁתָא (tirshata’) is an official title of the Persian governor in Judea, perhaps similar in meaning to “excellency” (BDB 1077 s.v.; HALOT 1798 s.v.; W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 395).
9 tn Heb “to stand.”
10 tn Aram “upon its place.”
11 tn Heb “the heads of their families.”
12 tn Or “those who came later.” The exact meaning of this Hebrew phrase is uncertain. It may refer to the last remaining members of Adonikam’s family who were in Babylon. So, for example, H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah (WBC), 108; cf. NASB, NIV, NCV. The phrase has also been taken to mean “the younger sons (so NAB), or the ones who “returned at a later date” (so TEV).
