Ezra 4:21

4:21 Now give orders that these men cease their work and that this city not be rebuilt until such time as I so instruct. ¹ 

Ezra 4:19

4:19 So I gave orders, ²  and it was determined ³  that this city from long ago has been engaging in insurrection against kings. It has continually engaged in ⁴  rebellion and revolt.

Ezra 5:9

5:9 We inquired of those elders, asking them, ‘Who gave you the authority to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?’

Ezra 5:13

5:13 But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, ⁵  King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God.

Ezra 6:1

Darius Issues a Decree

6:1 So Darius the king issued orders, and they searched in the archives ⁶  of the treasury which were deposited there in Babylon.

Ezra 7:13

7:13 I have now issued a decree ⁷  that anyone in my kingdom from the people of Israel – even the priests and Levites – who wishes to do so may go up with you to Jerusalem. ⁸ 

Ezra 5:3

5:3 At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority ⁹  to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” ¹⁰ 

Ezra 5:8

5:8 Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. It is being built with large stones, ¹¹  and timbers are being placed in the walls. This work is being done with all diligence and is prospering in their hands.

Ezra 6:3

6:3 In the first year of his reign, ¹²  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ¹³  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. ¹⁴  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety ¹⁵  feet, ¹⁶ 

Ezra 6:8

6:8 “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. ¹⁷ 

Ezra 6:11-12

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 ¹⁸  on it, and his house is to be reduced ¹⁹  to a rubbish heap ²⁰  for this indiscretion. ²¹  6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation ²²  who reaches out ²³  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 7:21

7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ²⁴  Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –

Ezra 5:14

5:14 Even the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had brought to the palace ²⁵  of Babylon – even those things King Cyrus brought from the palace of Babylon and presented ²⁶  to a man by the name of Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed as governor.

Ezra 5:17

5:17 “Now if the king is so inclined, ²⁷  let a search be conducted in the royal archives ²⁸  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.”

¹ tn Aram “until a command is issued from me.”

² tn Aram “from me was placed a decree.”

³ tn Aram “and they searched and found.”

⁴ tn Aram “are being done.”

³ sn Cyrus was actually a Persian king, but when he conquered Babylon in 539 b.c. he apparently appropriated to himself the additional title “king of Babylon.” The Syriac Peshitta substitutes “Persia” for “Babylon” here, but this is probably a hyper-correction.

⁴ tn Aram “the house of the archives.”

⁵ tn Heb “from me is placed a decree.” So also in v. 21.

⁶ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁶ tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.

⁷ tn The exact meaning of the Aramaic word אֻשַּׁרְנָא (’ussarna’) here and in v. 9 is uncertain (BDB 1083 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it to mean “wall.” Here it is used in collocation with בַּיְתָא (bayta’, “house” as the temple of God), while in 5:3, 9 it is used in parallelism with this term. It might be related to the Assyrian noun ashurru (“wall”) or ashru (“sanctuary”; so BDB). F. Rosenthal, who translates the word “furnishings,” thinks that it probably enters Aramaic from Persian (Grammar, 62-63, §189).

⁷ tn Aram “stones of rolling.” The reference is apparently to stones too large to carry.

⁸ tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”

⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁰ tn Aram “raised”; or perhaps “retained” (so NASB; cf. NLT), referring to the original foundations of Solomon’s temple.

¹¹ 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.

¹² 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.

⁹ tn The words “of the work” are not in the Aramaic, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ tn Aram “made.”

¹² tn Aram “a dunghill.”

¹³ tn Aram “for this.”

¹¹ tn Aram “people.”

¹² tn Aram “who sends forth his hand.”

¹² tn Aram “who are in.”

¹³ tn Or “temple.”

¹⁴ tn Aram “they were given.”

¹⁴ tn Aram “if upon the king it is good.”

¹⁵ tn Aram “the house of the treasures of the king.”