Ezra 4:20

4:20 Powerful kings have been over Jerusalem who ruled throughout the entire Trans-Euphrates ¹  and who were the beneficiaries of ²  tribute, custom, and toll.

Ezra 4:2

4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders ³  and said to them, “Let us help you build, ⁴  for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him ⁵  from the time ⁶  of King Esarhaddon ⁷  of Assyria, who brought us here.” ⁸ 

Ezra 8:3

8:3 the son of Shecaniah; ⁹ 

from the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were enrolled by genealogy 150 men;

Ezra 8:1

The Leaders Who Returned with Ezra

8:1 These are the leaders ¹⁰  and those enrolled with them by genealogy who were coming up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

Ezra 4:24

4:24 So the work on the temple of God in Jerusalem came to a halt. It remained halted until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia. ¹¹ 

[4:20]  ¹ sn The statement that prior Jewish kings ruled over the entire Trans-Euphrates is an overstatement. Not even in the days of David and Solomon did the kingdom of Israel extend its borders to such an extent.

[4:20]  ² tn Aram “were being given to them.”

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “Let us build with you.”

[4:2]  ⁵ tc The translation reads with the Qere, a Qumran MS, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Arabic version וְלוֹ (vÿlo, “and him”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, וְלֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

[4:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “days.”

[4:2]  ⁷ sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669 b.c.

[4:2]  ⁸ sn The Assyrian policy had been to resettle Samaria with peoples from other areas (cf. 2 Kgs 17:24-34). These immigrants acknowledged Yahweh as well as other deities in some cases. The Jews who returned from the Exile regarded them with suspicion and were not hospitable to their offer of help in rebuilding the temple.

[8:3]  ⁹ tc The MT reads here “from the sons of Shecaniah” with no descendant identified in what follows, contrary to the pattern of the context elsewhere. However, it seems better to understand the first phrase of v. 3 with the end of v. 2; the phrase would then modify the name “Hattush.” This understanding requires emending the reading מִבְּנֵי (mibbÿne, “from the sons of”) in the MT to בֵּן (ben,“[the] son of”). Cf. NAB, TEV, CEV, NLT.

[8:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the heads of their families.”

[4:24]  ¹¹ sn Darius I Hystaspes ruled Persia ca. 522–486 b.c.