Nehemiah 12:1

The Priests and the Levites Who Returned to Jerusalem

12:1 These are the priests and Levites who returned ¹  with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

Ezra 3:2

3:2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak ²  and his priestly colleagues ³  and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his colleagues ⁴  started to build ⁵  the altar of the God of Israel so they could offer burnt offerings on it as required by ⁶  the law of Moses the man of God.

Haggai 1:1

Introduction

1:1 On the first day of the sixth month ⁷  of King Darius’ ⁸  second year, the Lord spoke this message through the prophet Haggai ⁹  to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak: ¹⁰ 

Zechariah 3:1

Vision Four: The Priest

3:1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest ¹¹  standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan ¹²  standing at his right hand to accuse him.

¹ tn Heb “who went up.”

² sn Jozadak (also in 3:8) is a variant spelling of Jehozadak.

³ tn Heb “his brothers the priests.”

⁴ tn Heb “his brothers.”

⁵ tn Heb “arose and built.”

⁶ tn Heb “written in.” Cf. v. 4.

⁷ sn The first day of the sixth month was Elul 1 according to the Jewish calendar; August 29, 520 b.c. according to the modern (Julian) calendar.

⁸ sn King Darius is the Persian king Darius Hystaspes who ruled from 522-486 b.c.

⁹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet” (בְּיַד־חַגַּי, bÿyad-khaggay). This suggests that the prophet is only an instrument of the Lord; the Lord is to be viewed as the true author (see 1:3; 2:1; Mal 1:1).

¹⁰ tn The typical translation “Joshua (the) son of Jehozadak, the high priest” (cf. ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) can be understood to mean that Jehozadak was high priest. However, Zech 3:1, 8 clearly indicates that Joshua was high priest (see also Ezra 5:1-2; cf. NAB). The same potential misunderstanding occurs in Hag 1:12, 14 and 2:2, where the same solution has been employed in the translation.

¹¹ sn Joshua the high priest mentioned here is the son of the priest Jehozadak, mentioned also in Hag 1:1 (cf. Ezra 2:2; 3:2, 8; 4:3; 5:2; 10:18; Neh 7:7; 12:1, 7, 10, 26). He also appears to have been the grandfather of the high priest contemporary with Nehemiah ca. 445 b.c. (Neh 12:10).

¹² tn The Hebrew term הַשָּׂטָן (hassatan, “the satan”) suggests not so much a personal name (as in almost all English translations) but an epithet, namely, “the adversary.” This evil being is otherwise thus described in Job 1 and 2 and 1 Chr 21:1. In this last passage the article is dropped and “the satan” becomes “Satan,” a personal name.