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 6:8
Context6:8 “I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs are to be given to these men, so that there may be no interruption of the work. 8
Ezra 6:11-12
Context6:11 “I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled 9 on it, and his house is to be reduced 10 to a rubbish heap 11 for this indiscretion. 12 6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation 13 who reaches out 14 to cause such change so as to destroy this temple of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given orders. Let them be carried out with precision!”
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 The words “of the work” are not in the Aramaic, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
9 sn The practice referred to in v. 11 has been understood in various ways: hanging (cf. 1 Esd 6:32 and KJV); flogging (cf. NEB, NLT); impalement (BDB 1091 s.v. זְקַף; HALOT 1914 s.v. מחא hitpe; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The latter seems the most likely.
10 tn Aram “made.”
11 tn Aram “a dunghill.”
12 tn Aram “for this.”
13 tn Aram “people.”
14 tn Aram “who sends forth his hand.”
