Ezra 6:14-18
elders <07868> [And the elders.]
prophesying <05017> [through.]
brought ... to completion by <03635 04481> [finished it.]
by ............ command <04481 02942> [according.]
command .......... command <02941 02942> [commandment. Chal. decree. Cyrus.]
Artaxerxes <0783> [Artaxerxes.]
This was Artaxerxes, the third son and successor of Xerxes, surnamed [Makrocheir,] or Longimanus, or in Persian, {Ardsheer deeraz dest,} "Ardsheer the long-handed;" so called, according to the Greeks, from the extra-ordinary length of his hands, but according to the Easterners, from the extent of his dominions. He ascended the Persian throne, A.M. 3540, B.C. 464, and reigned forty-one years. He is said to have been the most handsome person of his age, and to have been a prince of a very mild and generous disposition.
Adar <0144> [A.M. 3489. B.C. 515. Adar.]
people ............. exiles <01123> [the children.]
[children of the captivity. Chal. sons of the transportation.]
dedication <02597> [the dedication.]
joy <02305> [with joy.]
Having set up the worship of God in this dedication, they took care to keep it up, and made the book of Moses their rule, to which they had an eye in this establishment. Though the temple service could not now be performed with so much pomp and plenty as formerly, because of their poverty, yet no doubt it was performed with as much purity and close adherence to the Divine institutions as ever. No beauty is like the beauty of holiness.
offered <07127> [offered.]
sin <02402> [a sin offering.]
number <04510> [according to.]
Though the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, with the priests and Levites, formed the bulk of the people, yet many from the other tribes had returned with them from captivity.
priests <03549> [the priests.]
in accord with <03792> [as it is written. Chal. according to the writing.]
