Ezra 6

Then King Darius gave an order, and a search was made in the record house in Babylon, where the treasures were stored.

1Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.

NoteThe "house of the rolls" was the royal archive, where official documents were kept on scrolls alongside the treasury. Persian administration ran on written records, and a decree issued decades earlier could be located and checked.

2A scroll was found at Achmetha, in the fortress in the province of Media, and this is what was written in it as a record:

2And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written:

NoteAchmetha is Ecbatana, in what is now northwest Iran, the capital of the Medes before Cyrus conquered them and afterwards a summer residence of the Persian kings. Cyrus issued his decree in his first year, so the document had been filed there rather than in Babylon, where the search began.

3In the first year of King Cyrus, that same King Cyrus gave an order about the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide,

3In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;

NoteCyrus's first year as ruler of Babylon was 538 BC. A cubit was about eighteen inches, roughly the length of a forearm, so sixty cubits is about ninety feet. These figures are larger than Solomon's temple (sixty cubits long, twenty wide, thirty high) and read like the maximum size the crown was willing to fund rather than a description of what was actually built; the decree gives no length.

4with three layers of large stones and one layer of new timber. The costs are to be paid from the king's treasury.

4With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house:

NoteAlternating courses of stone with a layer of timber was a standard building technique of the period, giving walls some flexibility. "The king's house" means the royal treasury, not a building.

5Also, the gold and silver objects from the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, are to be given back. They are to be returned to the temple in Jerusalem, each one to its own place, and set in the house of God.

5And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.

NoteNebuchadnezzar was the Babylonian king who captured Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in 587/586 BC, carrying its gold and silver equipment to Babylon. Returning captured temple goods to their sanctuaries was a deliberate policy of Cyrus after he took Babylon.

6So now, Tatnai, governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, and Shethar-boznai, and your fellow officials of that region: stay away from that place.

6Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shetharboznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence:

Note"Beyond the River" was the formal name of the Persian province west of the Euphrates, covering Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine, "beyond" as seen from the Persian court. Tatnai was its governor and Shethar-boznai apparently his senior officer. The word behind "Apharsachites" is an untranslated title of some class of officials; its exact sense is unknown.

7Leave the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its own site.

7Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place.

8I also give this order about what you must do for these Jewish elders who are building this house of God: the costs are to be paid to these men at once from the king's money, from the taxes collected west of the Euphrates, so that the work is not held up.

8Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered.

NoteThe money is to come from the taxes the province already collects, so the local officials who had tried to stop the work are now required to fund it.

9Whatever they need is to be given to them every day without fail: young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings to the God of heaven, along with wheat, salt, wine, and oil, just as the priests in Jerusalem ask for.

9And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail:

NoteA burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar rather than eaten. "The God of heaven" was the usual way of naming the Jewish God in Persian-era official documents, a title an imperial administrator would recognize and use.

10This is so they can offer sacrifices with a pleasing smell to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

10That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.

NotePersian kings routinely subsidised the temples of subject peoples in exchange for prayers offered on behalf of the crown; the request here is a standard clause, not a private piety. "Sacrifices of sweet savours" refers to the smoke of the offering, described in Israelite texts as a pleasing smell to God.

11I also give this order: if anyone changes this decree, a beam is to be pulled out of his house and set upright, and he is to be fastened to it and put to death. And his house is to be made a heap of rubbish because of this.

11Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this.

NoteThe penalty is impaling on a beam torn from the offender's own house, a known Persian punishment, followed by the demolition of the house itself. The Aramaic word behind "dunghill" means a refuse or dung heap: the site is not merely leveled but degraded.

12And may the God who has caused his name to live there destroy any king or people who reaches out a hand to change this order or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given this order. Let it be carried out quickly.

12And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed.

Note"Caused his name to dwell there" is a Hebrew way of saying God has claimed the place as his own. "Put to their hand" simply means to take action against it.

13Then Tatnai, the governor of the region west of the river, and Shethar-boznai, and their fellow officials did exactly what King Darius had sent word to do, and they did it quickly.

13Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shetharboznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily.

14So the Jewish elders kept building, and they did well through the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished the work, as the God of Israel had commanded and as Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia, had ordered.

14And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

NoteHaggai and Zechariah were prophets active around 520 BC urging the rebuilding; both of their books survive in the Bible. Artaxerxes reigned much later (465–424 BC), long after the temple was finished; his name appears here because he too later authorised support for it, so the list runs beyond the moment being described.

15This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

15And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

NoteAdar was the twelfth month of the Jewish calendar, falling in February–March. The sixth year of Darius I is 516/515 BC, about seventy years after the temple was destroyed.

16Then the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and everyone else who had come back from exile, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

16And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,

NoteThe Levites were members of the tribe of Levi who served at the temple in supporting roles (music, gatekeeping, slaughtering and preparation) while the priests, a family within that tribe, handled the altar itself.

17For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs. They also offered twelve male goats as a sin offering for all Israel, one for each of the tribes of Israel.

17And offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

NoteA sin offering (better, a purification offering) was made to cleanse people or objects from ritual impurity so that worship could proceed. Twelve goats stand for all twelve tribes of Israel, although in practice those who returned from exile came mainly from Judah, Benjamin and Levi. The totals are modest beside the thousands offered at Solomon's dedication.

18They put the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God in Jerusalem, just as it is written in the book of Moses.

18And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.

NotePriests and Levites were organized into fixed groups that took turns serving at the temple on a rota. "The book of Moses" means the first five books of the Bible, the law traditionally credited to Moses.

19The people who had come back from exile kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

19And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.

NotePassover is the annual commemoration of Israel's escape from Egypt, kept on the fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan, falling in March–April). It comes about a month after the temple was finished.

20The priests and the Levites had all made themselves ceremonially clean together, so all of them were clean. They killed the Passover lamb for everyone who had come back from exile, for their fellow priests, and for themselves.

20For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.

NoteBeing "clean" here is a ritual condition, not hygiene: a state of fitness to handle holy things, reached by washing and by avoiding certain contacts beforehand. In the Hebrew it is the Levites who slaughter the Passover animals for everyone, including for the priests, a departure from the older practice in which each household killed its own lamb.

21The Israelites who had come back from exile ate it, and so did everyone who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of the other peoples of the land and joined them, to seek the LORD, the God of Israel.

21And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat,

Note"Uncleanness" again means ritual impurity, the customs and worship of the surrounding peoples, not dirt or immorality as such. The verse allows that people not from the exile community could join in, provided they made that break.

22They kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the LORD had made them glad. He had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, so that he helped them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

22And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

NoteThe Feast of Unleavened Bread ran for the seven days following Passover, during which no yeast was used in bread. "The king of Assyria" means the Persian king Darius: Assyria had long since fallen, but its name survived as a label for whatever empire ruled Mesopotamia, much as later writers speak of the ruler of that whole region.