Discovery BoxEzra 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. 1
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 2 on it, and his house is to be reduced 3 to a rubbish heap 4 for this indiscretion. 5 6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation 6 who reaches out 7 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!”
Ezra 8:22
Context8:22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy 8 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 9 is against everyone who forsakes him.”
1 tn The words “of the work” are not in the Aramaic, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 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.
3 tn Aram “made.”
4 tn Aram “a dunghill.”
5 tn Aram “for this.”
6 tn Aram “people.”
7 tn Aram “who sends forth his hand.”
8 tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).
9 tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).
