Ezra 5:13

5:13 But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, ¹  King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God.

Ezra 6:3

6:3 In the first year of his reign, ²  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ³  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. ⁴  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety ⁵  feet, ⁶ 

Ezra 6:14

6:14 The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time ⁷  Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought it to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

Ezra 5:14

5:14 Even the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had brought to the palace ⁸  of Babylon – even those things King Cyrus brought from the palace of Babylon and presented ⁹  to a man by the name of Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed as governor.

Ezra 5:17

5:17 “Now if the king is so inclined, ¹⁰  let a search be conducted in the royal archives ¹¹  there in Babylon in order to determine whether King Cyrus did in fact issue orders for this temple of God to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us a decision concerning this matter.”

[5:13]  ¹ 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.

[6:3]  ² tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”

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

[6:3]  ⁴ tn Aram “raised”; or perhaps “retained” (so NASB; cf. NLT), referring to the original foundations of Solomon’s temple.

[6:3]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[6:14]  ³ tn Aram “in” or “by,” in the sense of accompaniment.

[5:14]  ⁴ tn Or “temple.”

[5:14]  ⁵ tn Aram “they were given.”

[5:17]  ⁵ tn Aram “if upon the king it is good.”

[5:17]  ⁶ tn Aram “the house of the treasures of the king.”