Ezra 8:22

8:22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy ¹  along the way, because we had said to the king, “The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger ²  is against everyone who forsakes him.”

Ezra 8:1

The Leaders Who Returned with Ezra

8:1 These are the leaders ³  and those enrolled with them by genealogy who were coming up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

Ezra 1:2-3

1:2 “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia:

“‘The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has instructed me to build a temple ⁴  for him in Jerusalem, ⁵  which is in Judah. 1:3 Anyone from ⁶  his people among you (may his God be with him!) may go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may build the temple of the Lord God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem.

Psalms 122:9

122:9 For the sake of the temple of the Lord our God

I will pray for you to prosper. ⁷ 

Isaiah 60:13

60:13 The splendor of Lebanon will come to you,

its evergreens, firs, and cypresses together,

to beautify my palace; ⁸ 

I will bestow honor on my throne room. ⁹ 

[8:22]  ¹ tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).

[8:22]  ² tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).

[8:1]  ³ tn Heb “the heads of their families.”

[1:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “house.” The Hebrew noun בַּיִת (bayit, “house”) is often used in reference to the temple of Yahweh (BDB 108 s.v. 1.a). This is also frequent elsewhere in Ezra and Nehemiah (e.g., Ezra 1:3, 4, 5, 7; 2:68; 3:8, 9, 11, 12; 4:3; 6:22; 7:27; 8:17, 25, 29, 30, 33, 36; 9:9; 10:1, 6, 9).

[1:2]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “from all.”

[122:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will seek good for you.” The psalmist will seek Jerusalem’s “good” through prayer.

[60:13]  ⁸ tn Or “holy place, sanctuary.”

[60:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “the place of my feet.” See Ezek 43:7, where the Lord’s throne is called the “place of the soles of my feet.”