Ezra 5:10

10 We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that [were] the chief of them.

Ezra 5:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 5:10

We asked their names also
The names of the elders, those that set men about this work:

to certify that we might write the names of the men that were the chief
of them;
take the names of them in writing, that they might with certainty acquaint the king who they were, and that if it was necessary they might be called to an account for what they were doing.

Ezra 5:10 In-Context

8 Be it known to the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work proceedeth rapidly, and prospereth in their hands.

9 Then we asked those elders, [and] said to them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to erect these walls?

10 We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that [were] the chief of them.

11 And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was erected these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and set up.

12 But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon.