5:1 Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son 1 of Iddo 2 prophesied concerning the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem 3 in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 5:2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak began 4 to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, supporting them.
5:3 At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority 5 to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” 6 5:4 They 7 also asked them, “What are the names of the men who are building this edifice?” 5:5 But God was watching over 8 the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped 9 until a report could be dispatched 10 to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.
1 tn Aram “son.” According to Zech 1:1 he was actually the grandson of Iddo.
2 tn Aram “and Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo the prophet.”
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 Aram “arose and began.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a single concept.
5 tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.
6 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 tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew
8 tn Aram “the eye of their God was on.” The idiom describes the attentive care that one exercises in behalf of the object of his concern.
9 tn Aram “they did not stop them.”
10 tn Aram “[could] go.” On this form see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 58, §169.