Ezra 7:27

7:27 ¹ Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who so moved in the heart of the king to so honor the temple of the Lord which is in Jerusalem!

Ezra 9:11

9:11 which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ²  ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! ³  With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.

Ezra 1:3-4

1:3 Anyone from ⁴  his people among you (may his God be with him!) may go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may build the temple of the Lord God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 1:4 Anyone who survives in any of those places where he is a resident foreigner must be helped by his neighbors ⁵  with silver, gold, equipment, and animals, along with voluntary offerings for the temple of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

Ezra 1:7

1:7 Then King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the Lord’s temple which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and had displayed ⁶  in the temple of his gods.

Ezra 2:1-2

The Names of the Returning Exiles

2:1 ⁷ These are the people ⁸  of the province who were going up, ⁹  from the captives of the exile whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had forced into exile in Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem ¹⁰  and Judah, each to his own city. 2:2 They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

The number of Israelites ¹¹  was as follows: ¹² 

Ezra 2:61

2:61 And from among ¹³  the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that ¹⁴  name).

Ezra 2:63

2:63 The governor ¹⁵  instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult ¹⁶  the Urim and Thummim.

Ezra 2:68

2:68 When they came to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders ¹⁷  offered voluntary offerings for the temple of God in order to rebuild ¹⁸  it on its site.

Ezra 7:11

Artaxerxes Gives Official Endorsement to Ezra’s Mission

7:11 What follows ¹⁹  is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priestly scribe. ²⁰  Ezra was ²¹  a scribe in matters pertaining to the commandments of the Lord and his statutes over Israel:

Ezra 10:8

10:8 Everyone who did not come within three days would thereby forfeit all his property, in keeping with the counsel of the officials and the elders. Furthermore, he himself would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

Ezra 10:18

Those Who Had Taken Foreign Wives

10:18 It was determined ²²  that from the descendants of the priests, the following had taken foreign wives: from the descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

Ezra 1:2

1:2 “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia:

“‘The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has instructed me to build a temple ²³  for him in Jerusalem, ²⁴  which is in Judah.

Ezra 1:5

The Exiles Prepare to Return to Jerusalem

1:5 Then the leaders ²⁵  of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites – all those whose mind God had stirred – got ready ²⁶  to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ²⁷ 

Ezra 3:12

3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ²⁸  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ²⁹  – were weeping loudly, ³⁰  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout.

Ezra 7:6

7:6 This Ezra is the one who came up from Babylon. He was a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king supplied him with everything he requested, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

Ezra 10:14

10:14 Let our leaders take steps ³¹  on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

¹ sn At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (7:12-26) back to Hebrew.

² tn Heb “through your servants the prophets, saying.”

³ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

³ tn Heb “from all.”

⁴ tn Heb “the men of his place.”

⁵ tn Heb “and he gave them.”

⁶ sn The list of names and numbers in this chapter of Ezra has a parallel account in Neh 7:6-73. The fact that the two lists do not always agree in specific details suggests that various textual errors have crept into the accounts during the transmission process.

⁷ tn Heb “the sons of.”

⁸ tn The Hebrew term הָעֹלִים (ha’olim, “those who were going up” [Qal active participle]) refers to continual action in the past. Most translations render this as a simple past: “went up” (KJV), “came up” (RSV, ASV, NASV, NIV), “came” (NRSV). CEV paraphrases: “were on their way back.”

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

⁷ tn Heb “men of the people of Israel.”

⁸ tn The words “was as follows” are not in the Hebrew text but are used in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tc The translation reads וּמִן (umin, “and from”) rather than the reading וּמִבּנֵי (umibbÿney, “and from the sons of”) found in the MT.

⁹ tn Heb “their.”

⁹ tn The Hebrew word תִּרְשָׁתָא (tirshata’) is an official title of the Persian governor in Judea, perhaps similar in meaning to “excellency” (BDB 1077 s.v.; HALOT 1798 s.v.; W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 395).

¹⁰ tn Heb “to stand.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

¹¹ tn Heb “cause it to stand.”

¹¹ tn Heb “this.”

¹² tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.” So also in v. 21.

¹³ tn The words “Ezra was” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “found.”

¹³ tn Heb “house.” The Hebrew noun בַּיִת (bayit, “house”) is often used in reference to the temple of Yahweh (BDB 108 s.v. 1.a). This is also frequent elsewhere in Ezra and Nehemiah (e.g., Ezra 1:3, 4, 5, 7; 2:68; 3:8, 9, 11, 12; 4:3; 6:22; 7:27; 8:17, 25, 29, 30, 33, 36; 9:9; 10:1, 6, 9).

¹⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁴ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “arose.”

¹⁶ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁵ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

¹⁶ sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

¹⁷ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “stand.”