Add parallel Print Page Options

The Celebration of Passover

19 On the fourteenth day of the first month the returned exiles observed the Passover feast. 20 For the priests and Levites together had consecrated themselves; all of them were clean. And they slaughtered the Passover sacrifice for all of the returned exiles, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 21 The Israelites[a] who returned from the exile and all those who separated themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the earth to seek Yahweh the God of Israel, ate. 22 With joy they celebrated the festival of unleavened bread for seven days, because Yahweh had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them in order to help them with the work of their hands on the house of the God of Israel.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ezra 6:21 Literally “sons/children of Israel”

19 [a] The exiles[b] observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 The priests and the Levites had purified themselves, every last one,[c] and they all were ceremonially pure. They sacrificed the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their colleagues[d] the priests, and for themselves. 21 The Israelites who were returning from the exile ate it, along with all those who had joined them[e] in separating themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel. 22 They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had given them joy and had changed the opinion[f] of the king of Assyria[g] toward them so that he assisted them[h] in the work on the temple of God, the God of Israel.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ezra 6:19 sn At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (4:8-6:18) back to Hebrew. Aramaic will again be used in Ezra 7:12-26.
  2. Ezra 6:19 tn Heb “the sons of the exile.” So also in v. 20.
  3. Ezra 6:20 tn Heb “as one.” The expression is best understood as referring to the unity shown by the religious leaders in preparing themselves for the observance of Passover. On the meaning of the Hebrew phrase see DCH 1:182 s.v. אֶחָד 3b. See also HALOT 30 s.v. אֶחָד 5.
  4. Ezra 6:20 tn Heb “brothers.”
  5. Ezra 6:21 tn Heb “who had separated from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to them.”
  6. Ezra 6:22 tn Heb “heart.”
  7. Ezra 6:22 sn The expression “king of Assyria” is anachronistic, since Assyria fell in 612 b.c., long before the events of this chapter. Perhaps the expression is intended subtly to contrast earlier kings of Assyria who were hostile toward Israel with this Persian king who showed them favor.
  8. Ezra 6:22 tn Heb “to strengthen their hands.”