Ezra 1:9

9 And this is the number of them; thirty basins of zahav, a thousand basins of kesef, nine and twenty knives,

Ezra 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 1:9

And this is the number of them
Of the vessels delivered, as follows:

thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver;
these, according to Ben Melech, were vessels in which water was put to wash hands in; but rather they were, as Aben Ezra observes from the Jerusalem Talmud ^F18, vessels in which they gathered the blood of lambs and bullocks slain for sacrifices:

nine and twenty knives;
which, because the handles of them were of gold or silver, were valuable, and might be very large knives, and what the priests used in slaying and cutting up the sacrifices.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 T. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 41. 1.

Ezra 1:9 In-Context

7 Also HaMelech Koresh brought forth the vessels of the Beis Hashem, which Nevuchadnetzar had carried off out of Yerushalayim, and had put them in the bais (temple) of his g-ds;

8 Even those did Koresh Melech Paras (Persia) bring forth by the hand of Mitredat the treasurer, and counted them unto Sheshbatzar, the Nasi of Yehudah.

9 And this is the number of them; thirty basins of zahav, a thousand basins of kesef, nine and twenty knives,

10 Thirty bowls of zahav, kesef basins of a second kind four hundred and ten, and other vessels one thousand.

11 All the vessels of zahav and of kesef were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbatzar bring up with them of the Golus that were brought up from Bavel unto Yerushalayim.