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 1 on it, and his house is to be reduced 2 to a rubbish heap 3 for this indiscretion. 4 6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation 5 who reaches out 6 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!”
6:13 Then Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues acted accordingly – with precision, just as Darius the king had given instructions. 7 6:14 The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time 8 Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought it to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 6:15 They finished this temple on the third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth 9 year of the reign of King Darius.
6:16 The people 10 of Israel – the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles 11 – observed the dedication of this temple of God with joy. 6:17 For the dedication of this temple of God they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 6:18 They appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their divisions over the worship of God at Jerusalem, 12 in accord with 13 the book of Moses. 6:19 14 The exiles 15 observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6:20 The priests and the Levites had purified themselves, every last one, 16 and they all were ceremonially pure. They sacrificed the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their colleagues 17 the priests, and for themselves. 6:21 The Israelites who were returning from the exile ate it, along with all those who had joined them 18 in separating themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel. 6:22 They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had given them joy and had changed the opinion 19 of the king of Assyria 20 toward them, so that he assisted 21 them in the work on the temple of God, the God of Israel.
1 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.
2 tn Aram “made.”
3 tn Aram “a dunghill.”
4 tn Aram “for this.”
5 tn Aram “people.”
6 tn Aram “who sends forth his hand.”
7 tn Aram “sent.”
8 tn Aram “in” or “by,” in the sense of accompaniment.
9 sn The sixth year of the reign of Darius would be ca. 516
10 tn Aram “sons of.”
11 tn Aram “sons of the exile.”
12 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
13 tn Aram “according to the writing of.”
14 sn At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (4:8–6:18) back to Hebrew. Aramaic will again be used in Ezra 7:12-26.
15 tn Heb “the sons of the exile.” So also in v. 20.
16 tn Heb “as one.” The expression is best understood as referring to the unity shown by the religious leaders in preparing themselves for the observance of Passover. On the meaning of the Hebrew phrase see DCH 1:182 s.v. אֶחָד 3b. See also HALOT 30 s.v. אֶחָד 5.
17 tn Heb “brothers.”
18 tn Heb “who had separated from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to them.”
19 tn Heb “heart.”
20 sn The expression “king of Assyria” is anachronistic, since Assyria fell in 612
21 tn Heb “to strengthen their hands.”