Ezra 6:11

“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 ¹  on it, and his house is to be reduced ²  to a rubbish heap ³  for this indiscretion. ⁴ 

2Ki 9:37; 2Ki 10:27; Ezr 7:26; Es 5:4; Es 7:10; Da 2:5; Da 3:29

¹ 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.

² tn Aram “made.”

³ tn Aram “a dunghill.”

⁴ tn Aram “for this.”