They gave money to the stonecutters and artisans, and gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so they would bring cedar wood from Lebanon to Joppa by sea,(A) according to the authorization given them by King Cyrus of Persia.(B)

Rebuilding the Temple

In the second month of the second year after they arrived at God’s house in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak,(C) and the rest of their brothers, including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began to build. They appointed the Levites who were twenty years old or more to supervise the work on the Lord’s house.(D) Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, and the sons of Judah[a] and of Henadad, with their sons and brothers, the Levites,(E) joined together to supervise those working on the house of God.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:9 Or Hodaviah; Neh 7:43; 1 Esdras 5:58

Preparations for Rebuilding the Temple

So they provided money[a] for the masons and carpenters, and food, beverages, and olive oil for the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar timber from Lebanon to the seaport[b] at Joppa, in accord with the edict of King Cyrus of Persia. In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work,[c] along with the rest of their associates,[d] the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed[e] the Levites who were at least twenty years old[f] to take charge of the work on the Lord’s temple. So Jeshua appointed both his sons and his relatives,[g] Kadmiel and his sons (the sons of Yehudah[h]), to take charge of the workers in the temple of God, along with the sons of Henadad, their sons, and their relatives[i] the Levites.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 3:7 tn Heb “silver.”
  2. Ezra 3:7 tn Heb “to the sea”
  3. Ezra 3:8 tn Heb “began”; the phrase “the work” is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
  4. Ezra 3:8 tn Heb “their brothers.”
  5. Ezra 3:8 tn Heb “stood.”
  6. Ezra 3:8 tn Heb “from twenty years and upward.”
  7. Ezra 3:9 tn Heb “brothers.”
  8. Ezra 3:9 sn The name יְהוּדָה (Yehudah; cf. KJV, ASV, NASB “Judah”) is probably a variant of Hodaviah (see Ezra 2:40; cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
  9. Ezra 3:9 tn Heb “brothers.”