Atlas Biblica

    Ezra · 17 verses

    Ezra 5

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    The rebuilding is questioned by officials who report that it is prospering, then ask the king to check whether its authorisation ever existed.

    The work resumes under an attentive eyevv. 1–5

    Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesy to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jehozadak begin rebuilding the house of God. Tattenai, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates arrive with the natural questions of officials inspecting an unexpected building site: who authorised it, and who exactly is doing the building? Yet the work is not stopped. The officials must send a report to Darius and wait for written instructions, while the chapter gives that administrative pause a wonderfully watchful cause.

    A report, a history, and a search of the archivesvv. 6–17

    Tattenai’s letter to Darius is notably fair-minded for a report that might have been a complaint. It describes large stones, timbers in the walls, diligent work, and success. The elders answer with a history of the temple: the fathers angered God, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the house and carried away the people, and Cyrus later ordered its rebuilding and returned its articles through Sheshbazzar. The letter then reaches its grand little anticlimax. After all that history, Tattenai asks the king to search the archives in Babylon to discover whether Cyrus really issued the decree.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Ezra 5:1Later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.

    2. Ezra 5:2Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak rose up and began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

    3. Ezra 5:3At that time Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates went to the Jews and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?”

    4. Ezra 5:4They also asked, “What are the names of the men who are constructing this building?”

    5. Ezra 5:5But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so that they were not stopped until a report was sent to Darius and written instructions about this matter were returned.

    6. Ezra 5:6This is the text of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates, the officials in the region, sent to King Darius.

    7. Ezra 5:7The report they sent him read as follows: To King Darius: All peace.

    8. Ezra 5:8Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. The people are rebuilding it with large stones and placing timbers in the walls. This work is being carried out diligently and is prospering in their hands.

    9. Ezra 5:9So we questioned the elders and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?”

    10. Ezra 5:10We also asked for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

    11. Ezra 5:11And this is the answer they returned: “We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

    12. Ezra 5:12But since our fathers angered the God of heaven, He delivered them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean who destroyed this temple and carried away the people to Babylon.

    13. Ezra 5:13In the first year of his reign, however, Cyrus king of Babylon issued a decree to rebuild this house of God.

    14. Ezra 5:14He also removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles belonging to the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken and carried there from the temple in Jerusalem. King Cyrus gave these articles to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor

    15. Ezra 5:15and instructed, ‘Take these articles, put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site.’

    16. Ezra 5:16So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been under construction, but it has not yet been completed.”

    17. Ezra 5:17Now, therefore, if it pleases the king, let a search be made of the royal archives in Babylon to see if King Cyrus did indeed issue a decree to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 132 passages were voted onto 15 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 1Haggai 1:1–1In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating
    • 1Zechariah 4:6–10So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts.
    • 2Ezra 3:2Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests, along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates, began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.
    • 3Ezra 6:6Therefore Darius decreed: To Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates and officials in the region: You must stay away from that place!
    • 5Psalms 33:18Surely the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His loving devotion
    • 2Ezra 6:14So the Jewish elders built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.
    • 5Ezra 7:28and who has shown me favor before the king, his counselors, and all his powerful officials. And because the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, I took courage and gathered the leaders of Israel to return with me.
    • 5Ezra 7:6this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted Ezra all his requests, for the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.
    • 14Ezra 6:5Furthermore, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, must also be returned to the temple in Jerusalem and deposited in the house of God.
    • 16Ezra 6:15And this temple was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
    • 16Ezra 3:10When the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their positions to praise the LORD, as David king of Israel had prescribed.
    • 3Ezra 5:9So we questioned the elders and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?”
    • 3Ezra 6:13In response, Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates diligently carried out what King Darius had decreed.
    • 3Ezra 1:3Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.
    • 6Ezra 4:9From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates—the judges and officials over Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa,
    • 12Daniel 9:5we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances.

    Onward

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