Ezra 5:8

5:8 Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. It is being built with large stones, ¹  and timbers are being placed in the walls. This work is being done with all diligence and is prospering in their hands.

Ezra 5:11-12

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 ²  of Israel built it and completed it. 5:12 But after our ancestors ³  angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands ⁴  of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon. ⁵ 

Ezra 6:3

6:3 In the first year of his reign, ⁶  King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ⁷  ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. ⁸  Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety ⁹  feet, ¹⁰ 

Ezra 6:8-9

6:8 “I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs are to be given to these men, so that there may be no interruption of the work. ¹¹  6:9 Whatever is needed – whether oxen or rams or lambs or burnt offerings for the God of heaven or wheat or salt or wine or oil, as required by ¹²  the priests who are in Jerusalem – must be given to them daily without any neglect,

Ezra 6:14

6:14 The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time ¹³  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 6:17

6:17 For the dedication of this temple of God they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

Ezra 7:17

7:17 With this money you should be sure to purchase bulls, rams, and lambs, along with the appropriate ¹⁴  meal offerings and libations. You should bring them to the altar of the temple of your God which is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 7:21

7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ¹⁵  Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –

Ezra 7:24

7:24 Furthermore, be aware of the fact ¹⁶  that you have no authority to impose tax, tribute, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the musicians, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or the attendants at the temple of this God.

Ezra 7:26

7:26 Everyone who does not observe both the law of your God and the law of the king will be completely ¹⁷  liable to the appropriate penalty, whether it is death or banishment or confiscation of property or detainment in prison.”

[5:8]  ¹ tn Aram “stones of rolling.” The reference is apparently to stones too large to carry.

[5:11]  ² sn This great king of Israel would, of course, be Solomon.

[5:12]  ³ tn Aram “fathers.”

[5:12]  ⁴ tn Aram “hand” (singular).

[5:12]  ⁵ sn A reference to the catastrophic events of 586 b.c.

[6:3]  ⁴ tn Aram “In the first year of Cyrus the king.”

[6:3]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

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

[6:3]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[6:8]  ⁵ tn The words “of the work” are not in the Aramaic, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:9]  ⁶ tn Aram “according to the word of.”

[6:14]  ⁷ tn Aram “in” or “by,” in the sense of accompaniment.

[7:17]  ⁸ tn Aram “their meal offerings and their libations.”

[7:21]  ⁹ tn Aram “who are in.”

[7:24]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “we are making known to you.”

[7:26]  ¹¹ tn On the meaning of this word see HALOT 1820-21 s.v. אָסְפַּרְנָא; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 14.