In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued an order concerning the House of God in Jerusalem: ‘Let the house be rebuilt, a place for offering sacrifices, with a base built up high. Let it be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide,
And the gold and silver vessels of the House of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from the temple in Jerusalem and transported to Babylon shall be returned, and let each go back to the temple in Jerusalem where it belongs; you shall deposit it in the House of God.’
“NowaNow This introduces the text of the reply of Darius that doubtless contained the preceding narrative (vv. 1–5) as a preliminary. you, Tattenai, governor of the province of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai and colleagues, the officials of the province of Beyond the River, stay away from that place.
And I hereby issue an order concerning what you must do to help these elders of the Jews rebuild this House of God: the expenses are to be paid to these men with dispatch out of the resources of the king, derived from the taxes of the province of Beyond the River, so that the work not be stopped.
They are to be given daily, without fail, whatever they need of young bulls, rams, or lambs as burnt offerings for the God of Heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and oil, at the order of the priests in Jerusalem,
Word-by-Word Analysis
ומה
51
חשחן
366
ובני
68
תורין
666
ודכרין
290
ואמריןלעלוןלאלה
559
שמיא
351
חנטין
127
מלח
78
חמר
248
ומשח
354
כמאמר
301
כהניא
86
דיבירושלם
602
להוא
42
מתיהב
457
להם
75
יוםביום
114
דילא
45
שלו
336
Ezra 6:10
Gematria: 1525
דילהוןמהקרביןניחוחיןלאלהשמיאומצליןלחיימלכאובנוהי
so that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of Heaven and pray for the life of the king and his heirs.
I also issue an order that whoever alters this decree shall have a beam removed from his house, and he shall be impaled on it and his house confiscated.bconfiscated Meaning uncertain; or “turned into ruins.”
And may the God whose name is established there cause the downfall of any king or nation that undertakes to alter or damage that House of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree; let it be carried out with dispatch.”
Then Tattenai, governor of the province of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues carried out with dispatch what King Darius had written.
So the elders of the Jews progressed in the building, urged on by the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo, and they brought the building to completion under the aegis of the God of Israel and by the order of Cyrus and Darius and King Artaxerxes of Persia.
And they sacrificed for the dedication of this House of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve goats as a purification offering for all of Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
They appointed the priests in their courses and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God in Jerusalem, according to the prescription in the Book of Moses.
Word-by-Word Analysis
והקימו
167
כהניא
86
בפלגתהון
576
ולויא
53
במחלקתהון
641
עלעבידת
586
אלהא
37
די
14
בירושלם
588
ככתב
442
ספר
340
משהפ
425
Ezra 6:19
Gematria: 2811
ויעשובניהגולהאתהפסחבארבעהעשרלחדשהראשון
cHebrew resumes here. The returned exiles celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month,
for the priests and Levites had purified themselves in concert; they were all pure. They slaughtered the passover offering for all the returned exiles, and for their brother priests and for themselves.
The children of Israel who had returned from the exile, together with all who joined them in separating themselves from the impurity of the nations of the lands to worship the ETERNAL God of Israel, ate of it.
They joyfully celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, for GOD had given them cause for joy by inclining the heart of the Assyrian king toward them so as to give them support in the work of the House of God, the God of Israel.