Ezra 1:5

The Exiles Prepare to Return to Jerusalem

1:5 Then the leaders ¹  of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites – all those whose mind God had stirred – got ready ²  to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ³ 

Ezra 3:12

3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ⁴  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ⁵  – were weeping loudly, ⁶  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout.

Ezra 4:2-3

4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders ⁷  and said to them, “Let us help you build, ⁸  for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him ⁹  from the time ¹⁰  of King Esarhaddon ¹¹  of Assyria, who brought us here.” ¹²  4:3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, “You have no right ¹³  to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”

Ezra 7:28

7:28 He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

Ezra 8:17

8:17 I sent them to Iddo, who was the leader in the place called Casiphia. I told them ¹⁴  what to say to Iddo and his relatives, ¹⁵  who were the temple servants in ¹⁶  Casiphia, so they would bring us attendants for the temple of our God.

Ezra 10:16

10:16 So the exiles proceeded accordingly. Ezra the priest separated out ¹⁷  by name men who were leaders in their family groups. ¹⁸  They sat down to consider this matter on the first day of the tenth month,

¹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

² tn Heb “arose.”

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

⁵ sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

⁶ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

⁷ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.

⁸ tn Heb “Let us build with you.”

⁹ tc The translation reads with the Qere, a Qumran MS, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Arabic version וְלוֹ (vÿlo, “and him”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

¹⁰ tn Heb “days.”

¹¹ sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669 b.c.

¹² sn The Assyrian policy had been to resettle Samaria with peoples from other areas (cf. 2 Kgs 17:24-34). These immigrants acknowledged Yahweh as well as other deities in some cases. The Jews who returned from the Exile regarded them with suspicion and were not hospitable to their offer of help in rebuilding the temple.

¹⁰ tn Heb “not to you and to us.”

¹³ tn Heb “I placed in their mouth words.”

¹⁴ tc The translation reads with the LXX and Vulgate וְאֶחָיו (vÿ’ekhayv, “and his brethren” = “relatives”; so NCV, NLT) rather than the reading אָחִיו (’akhiyv, “his brother”) of the MT.

¹⁵ tn Heb “in the place called.” This phrase has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁶ tc The translation reads the Hiphil singular וַיַּבְדֵּל לוֹ (vayyavdel lo, “separated for himself”) rather than the Niphal plural וַיִּבָּדְלוּ (vayyibbadÿlu, “were separated”) of the MT.

¹⁷ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers, to the house of their fathers, and all of them by name.”