Ezra 5:4

4 Toen zeiden wij aldus tot hen, en welke de namen waren der mannen, die dit gebouw bouwden.

Ezra 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 5:4

Then said we unto them after this manner
In answer to their questions; namely, Ezra and other Jews replied; for though Ezra is said after this to come from Babylon in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, he might go thither on some business, and then return again at that time; some indeed think these are the words of Tatnai and those with him; so Ben Melech, which seems to be favoured by ( Ezra 4:10 ) , and by reading the words with an interrogation, as we do; Aben Ezra says they are either the words of the builders, or of the scribes, the secretaries that came to question them; but they are the words of the former, as order requires, or otherwise no answer would be returned, at least as expressed; and the next clause may be read without an interrogation, and the sense be, that they told them not only that they acted according to an edict of Cyrus king of Persia, for this was said, as appears from ( Ezra 5:13 ) , but they declared

what were the names of the men that did make this building;
or employed them in it, namely, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the chief men of the Jews; they made no scruple of telling them who they were; neither ashamed of their masters nor of their work, nor afraid of any ill consequences following hereafter.

Ezra 5:4 In-Context

2 Toen maakten zich op Zerubbabel, de zoon van Sealthiel, en Jesua, de zoon van Jozadak, en begonnen te bouwen het huis Gods, Die te Jeruzalem woont; en met hen de profeten Gods, die hen ondersteunden.

3 Te dier tijd kwam tot hen Thathnai, de landvoogd aan deze zijde der rivier, en Sthar-Boznai, en hun gezelschap, en zeiden aldus tot hen: Wie heeft ulieden bevel gegeven dit huis te bouwen, en dezen muur te voltrekken?

4 Toen zeiden wij aldus tot hen, en welke de namen waren der mannen, die dit gebouw bouwden.

5 Doch het oog huns Gods was over de oudsten der Joden, dat zij hun niet beletten, totdat de zaak aan Darius kwam, en zij alsdan daarover een brief wederbrachten.

6 Afschrift des briefs, dien Thathnai, de landvoogd aan deze zijde der rivier, met Sthar-Boznai, en zijn gezelschap, de Afarsechaieten, die aan deze zijde der rivier waren, aan den koning Darius zond.