Ezra 3:7

Preparations for Rebuilding the Temple

3:7 So they provided money ¹  for the masons and carpenters, and food, beverages, and olive oil for the people of Sidon ²  and Tyre, ³  so that they would bring cedar timber from Lebanon to the seaport ⁴  at Joppa, in accord with the edict of King Cyrus of Persia.

Ezra 4:2

4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders ⁵  and said to them, “Let us help you build, ⁶  for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him ⁷  from the time ⁸  of King Esarhaddon ⁹  of Assyria, who brought us here.” ¹⁰ 

Ezra 8:17

8:17 I sent them to Iddo, who was the leader in the place called Casiphia. I told them ¹¹  what to say to Iddo and his relatives, ¹²  who were the temple servants in ¹³  Casiphia, so they would bring us attendants for the temple of our God.

Ezra 9:11

9:11 which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ¹⁴  ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! ¹⁵  With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.

Ezra 10:6

10:6 Then Ezra got up from in front of the temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he stayed ¹⁶  there, he did not eat food or drink water, for he was in mourning over the infidelity of the exiles.

¹ tn Heb “silver.”

² map For location see Map1-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

³ map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

⁴ tn Heb “to the sea”

⁵ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.

⁶ tn Heb “Let us build with you.”

⁷ 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”).

⁸ tn Heb “days.”

⁹ sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669 b.c.

¹⁰ 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.

⁹ tn Heb “I placed in their mouth words.”

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ tn Heb “in the place called.” This phrase has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹³ tn Heb “through your servants the prophets, saying.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

¹⁷ tc The translation reads וַיָּלֶן (vayyalen, “and he stayed”) rather than the reading וַיֵּלֶךְ (vayyelekh, “and he went”) of the MT. Cf. the LXX.