Ezra 6:3

3 In the first year of king Cyrus, Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the holy house of God that was in Jerusalem, Let the house be built, and the place where they sacrifice the sacrifices. (Also he appointed its elevation, in height sixty cubits; its breadth of sixty cubits.)

Ezra 6:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 6:3

In the first year of Cyrus the king; the same Cyrus the king
made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house
be builded
See ( Ezra 1:1-4 ) ( Isaiah 44:28 ) ,

the place where they offered sacrifices;
to God in times past, ever since it was built by Solomon:

and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid;
so as to bear and support the building erected on them, as the word signifies:

the height thereof sixty cubits;
which were thirty more than the height of Solomon's temple, ( 1 Kings 6:2 ) though sixty less than the height of the porch, which was one hundred and twenty, ( 2 Chronicles 3:4 ) and which some take to be the height of the whole house; and hence it may be observed what Herod said ^F25, that the temple then in being wanted sixty cubits in height of that of Solomon's:

and the breadth thereof sixty cubits;
whereas the breadth of Solomon's temple was but twenty, ( 1 Kings 6:2 ) , but since it cannot reasonably be thought that the breadth should be equal to the height, and so very disproportionate to Solomon's temple; many learned men understand this of the extension of it as to length, which exactly agrees with the length of the former temple, ( 1 Kings 6:2 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 15. c. 11. sect. 1.

Ezra 6:3 In-Context

1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and caused a search to be made in the record-offices, where the treasure is stored in Babylon.

2 And there was found in the city, in the palace, a volume, and this was the record written in it.

3 In the first year of king Cyrus, Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the holy house of God that was in Jerusalem, Let the house be built, and the place where they sacrifice the sacrifices. (Also he appointed its elevation, in height sixty cubits; its breadth of sixty cubits.)

4 And three strong layers of stone, and one layer of timber; and the expense shall be paid out of the house of the king.

5 And the silver and the gold vessels of the house of God, which Nabuchodonosor carried off from the house that was in Jerusalem, and carried to Babylon, let them even be given, and be carried to the temple that is in Jerusalem, and put in the place where they were set in the house of God.