Discovery BoxEzra 5:17 
Context5:17 “Now if the king is so inclined, 1 let a search be conducted in the royal archives 2 there in Babylon in order to determine whether King Cyrus did in fact issue orders for this temple of God to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us a decision concerning this matter.”
Ezra 6:3
Context6:3 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 6:5
Context6:5 Furthermore let the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar brought from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, be returned and brought to their proper place in the temple in Jerusalem. Let them be deposited in the temple of God.’
Ezra 10:3
Context10:3 Therefore let us enact 8 a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, 9 and that of those who respect 10 the commandments of our God. And let it be done according to the law.
Ezra 10:14
Context10:14 Let our leaders take steps 11 on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”
1 tn Aram “if upon the king it is good.”
2 tn Aram “the house of the treasures of the king.”
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 “cut.”
9 tn The MT vocalizes this word as a plural, which could be understood as a reference to God. But the context seems to suggest that a human lord is intended. The apparatus of BHS suggests repointing the word as a singular (“my lord”), but this is unnecessary. The plural (“my lords”) can be understood in an honorific sense even when a human being is in view. Most English versions regard this as a reference to Ezra, so the present translation supplies “your” before “counsel” to make this clear.
10 tn Heb “who tremble at”; NAB, NIV “who fear.”
11 tn Heb “stand.”
