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. ¹ 

Ezra 5:13

5:13 But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, ²  King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God.

Ezra 6:15

6:15 They finished this temple on the third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth ³  year of the reign of King Darius.

Ezra 5:11

5:11 They responded to us in the following way: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king ⁴  of Israel built it and completed it.

Ezra 6:3

6:3 In the first year of his reign, ⁵  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ⁶  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. ⁷  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety ⁸  feet, ⁹ 

[4:24]  ¹ sn Darius I Hystaspes ruled Persia ca. 522–486 b.c.

[5:13]  ² sn Cyrus was actually a Persian king, but when he conquered Babylon in 539 b.c. he apparently appropriated to himself the additional title “king of Babylon.” The Syriac Peshitta substitutes “Persia” for “Babylon” here, but this is probably a hyper-correction.

[6:15]  ³ sn The sixth year of the reign of Darius would be ca. 516 B.C.

[5:11]  ⁴ sn This great king of Israel would, of course, be Solomon.

[6:3]  ⁵ tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”

[6:3]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:3]  ⁷ tn Aram “raised”; or perhaps “retained” (so NASB; cf. NLT), referring to the original foundations of Solomon’s temple.

[6:3]  ⁸ tc The Syriac Peshitta reads “twenty cubits” here, a measurement probably derived from dimensions given elsewhere for Solomon’s temple. According to 1 Kgs 6:2 the dimensions of the Solomonic temple were as follows: length, 60 cubits; width, 20 cubits; height, 30 cubits. Since one would expect the dimensions cited in Ezra 6:3 to correspond to those of Solomon’s temple, it is odd that no dimension for length is provided. The Syriac has apparently harmonized the width dimension provided here (“twenty cubits”) to that given in 1 Kgs 6:2.

[6:3]  ⁹ tn Aram “Its height sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.