Ezra 1:5

The Exiles Prepare to Return to Jerusalem

1:5 Then the leaders ¹  of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites – all those whose mind God had stirred – got ready ²  to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ³ 

Ezra 3:2

3:2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak ⁴  and his priestly colleagues ⁵  and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his colleagues ⁶  started to build ⁷  the altar of the God of Israel so they could offer burnt offerings on it as required by ⁸  the law of Moses the man of God.

Ezra 3:10

3:10 When the builders established the Lord’s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions, ⁹  and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by ¹⁰  King David of Israel. ¹¹ 

Ezra 3:12

3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ¹²  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ¹³  – were weeping loudly, ¹⁴  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout.

Ezra 8:33

8:33 On the fourth day we weighed out the silver, the gold, and the vessels in the house of our God into the care ¹⁵  of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest, and Eleazar son of Phinehas, who were accompanied by Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui, who were Levites.

Ezra 9:1

A Prayer of Ezra

9:1 Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents ¹⁶  who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

Ezra 9:7

9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ¹⁷  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ¹⁸  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

Ezra 10:16

10:16 So the exiles proceeded accordingly. Ezra the priest separated out ¹⁹  by name men who were leaders in their family groups. ²⁰  They sat down to consider this matter on the first day of the tenth month,

[1:5]  ¹ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “arose.”

[1:5]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:2]  ⁴ sn Jozadak (also in 3:8) is a variant spelling of Jehozadak.

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “his brothers the priests.”

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[3:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “arose and built.”

[3:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “written in.” Cf. v. 4.

[3:10]  ⁷ sn This was a long, straight, metallic instrument used for signal calls, rather than the traditional ram’s horn (both instruments are typically translated “trumpet” by English versions).

[3:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “according to the hands of.”

[3:10]  ⁹ sn See Ps 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1. Cf. 2 Chr 5:13; 7:3; 20:21.

[3:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[3:12]  ¹¹ sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

[3:12]  ¹² tn Heb “with a great voice.”

[8:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “upon the hand of.”

[9:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.” So also in v. 2.

[9:7]  ¹⁹ tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

[9:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

[10:16]  ²² tc The translation reads the Hiphil singular וַיַּבְדֵּל לוֹ (vayyavdel lo, “separated for himself”) rather than the Niphal plural וַיִּבָּדְלוּ (vayyibbadÿlu, “were separated”) of the MT.

[10:16]  ²³ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers, to the house of their fathers, and all of them by name.”