Ezra 5:12

5:12 But after our ancestors ¹  angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands ²  of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon. ³ 

Ezra 6:11

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 ⁴  on it, and his house is to be reduced ⁵  to a rubbish heap ⁶  for this indiscretion. ⁷ 

¹ tn Aram “fathers.”

² tn Aram “hand” (singular).

³ sn A reference to the catastrophic events of 586 b.c.

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Aram “made.”

⁶ tn Aram “a dunghill.”

⁷ tn Aram “for this.”