Ezra 5
New English Translation
Tattenai Appeals to Darius
5 Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son[a] of Iddo[b] prophesied concerning the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak began[c] to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, supporting them.
3 At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority[d] to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?”[e] 4 They[f] also asked them, “What are the names of the men who are building this edifice?” 5 But God was watching over[g] the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped[h] until a report could be dispatched[i] to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.
6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and his colleagues (who were the officials of Trans-Euphrates) sent to King Darius. 7 The report they sent to him was written as follows:[j]
“To King Darius: All greetings![k] 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,[l] and timbers are being placed in the walls. This work is being done with all diligence and is prospering in their hands. 9 We inquired of those elders, asking them, ‘Who gave you the authority to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?’ 10 We also inquired of their names in order to inform you, so that we might write the names of the men who were their leaders. 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[m] of Israel built it and completed it. 12 But after our ancestors[n] angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands[o] of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon.[p] 13 But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon,[q] King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God. 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[r] of Babylon—even those things King Cyrus brought from the palace of Babylon and presented[s] to a man by the name of Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed as governor. 15 He said to him, “Take these vessels and go deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt in its proper location.”[t] 16 Then this Sheshbazzar went and laid the foundations of the temple of God in Jerusalem. From that time to the present moment[u] it has been in the process of being rebuilt, although it is not yet finished.’
17 “Now if the king is so inclined,[v] let a search be conducted in the royal archives[w] 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.”
Footnotes
- Ezra 5:1 tn Aram “son.” According to Zech 1:1 he was actually the grandson of Iddo.
- Ezra 5:1 tn Aram “and Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo the prophet.”
- Ezra 5:2 tn Aram “arose and began.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a single concept.
- Ezra 5:3 tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.
- Ezra 5:3 tn The exact meaning of the Aramaic word אֻשַּׁרְנָא (ʾussarnaʾ) here and in v. 9 is uncertain (BDB 1083 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it to mean “wall.” Here it is used in collocation with בַּיְתָא (baytaʾ, “house” as the temple of God), while in 5:3, 9 it is used in parallelism with this term. It might be related to the Assyrian noun ashurru (“wall”) or ashru (“sanctuary”; so BDB). F. Rosenthal, who translates the word “furnishings,” thinks that it probably enters Aramaic from Persian (Grammar, 62-63, §189).
- Ezra 5:4 tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew ms, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta אֲמַרוּ (ʾamaru, “they said”) rather than the reading אֲמַרְנָא (ʾamarnaʾ, “we said”) of the MT.
- Ezra 5:5 tn Aram “the eye of their God was on.” The idiom describes the attentive care that one exercises in behalf of the object of his concern.
- Ezra 5:5 tn Aram “they did not stop them.”
- Ezra 5:5 tn Aram “[could] go.” On this form see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 58, §169.
- Ezra 5:7 tn Aram “and it was written in its midst.”
- Ezra 5:7 tn Aram “all peace.”
- Ezra 5:8 tn Aram “stones of rolling.” The reference is apparently to stones too large to carry.
- Ezra 5:11 sn This great king of Israel would, of course, be Solomon.
- Ezra 5:12 tn Aram “fathers.”
- Ezra 5:12 tn Aram “hand” (singular).
- Ezra 5:12 sn A reference to the catastrophic events of 586 b.c.
- Ezra 5:13 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.
- Ezra 5:14 tn Or “temple.”
- Ezra 5:14 tn Aram “they were given.”
- Ezra 5:15 tn Aram “upon its place.”
- Ezra 5:16 tn Aram “from then and until now.”
- Ezra 5:17 tn Aram “if upon the king it is good.”
- Ezra 5:17 tn Aram “the house of the treasures of the king.”
Ezra 5
Common English Bible
Work on God’s house continues
5 Then the prophet Haggai and the prophet Zechariah, Iddo’s son, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of Israel’s God who was over them. 2 Subsequently, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and Jeshua, Jozadak’s son, began to rebuild God’s house in Jerusalem. God’s prophets were with them, helping them.
3 At the same time, Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues came to them and spoke to them, asking, “Who authorized you to build this house and finish preparing[a] this building material?”[b] 4 They[c] also asked them, “What are the names of the people who are building this building?” 5 But their God looked after the elders of the Jews, and they didn’t stop them until a report reached Darius and a letter with his response had arrived.
Writing to King Darius
6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and his colleagues the officials who were in the province Beyond the River sent to King Darius. 7 In the message they sent him, the following was written:
To King Darius, all peace! 8 Let the king know that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with dressed stone and with timber set into the walls. This work makes good progress and prospers in their hands. 9 We asked those elders, “Who authorized you to build this house and to complete the preparation of this material?” 10 We also asked them their names so that we could write down the names of the leaders for your information.
11 This was their reply to us: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed. 12 But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them over into the power of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and deported the people to Babylonia. 13 However, in the first year of his rule, Babylon’s King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. 14 King Cyrus also took the gold and silver equipment from God’s house out of the temple in Babylon (the ones that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and placed in the temple in Babylon) and gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor. 15 Cyrus said to him, ‘Take this equipment and go and put it in Jerusalem’s temple, and let God’s house be rebuilt on its original site.’ 16 Then Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of God’s house in Jerusalem. From then until now the rebuilding work has continued but is not yet complete.”
17 And now, if it seems good to the king, may a search be made in the royal archives in Babylon to see if King Cyrus had issued a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then may the king be pleased to send us his decision about this matter.
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