Ezra 6:2

2 And one book was found in Ecbatana, which is a castle in the province of Media, and such a sentence of the king was written therein. (But one book was found in the city of Achmetha, in the province of Media, in the castle there, and this statement about the king was written in it;)

Ezra 6:2 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 6:2

And there was found at Achmetha
Which Jarchi and Aben Ezra take to be the name of a vessel in which letters and writings were put for safety; but it was no doubt the name of a place; the Vulgate Latin version has it Ecbatana; and so Josephus ^F19; which was the name of a city in Media, where the kings of that country had their residence in the summer time ^F20; for it has its name from heat ^F21; the Persian kings dwelt at Shushan in the winter, and at Ecbatana in the summer {w}; hence they are compared by Aelian ^F24 to cranes, birds of passage, because of their going to and from the above places:

in the palace that is in the province of the Medes,
here was found

a roll;
which was the decree of Cyrus, which perhaps he took with him when he went thither:

and therein was a record thus written;
as follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect. 6.
F20 Curtius, l. 5. c. 8. Vid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 6.
F21 Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 618.
F23 Athen. Deipnosophist, l. 12. c. 1.
F24 De Animal. l. 3. c. 13.

Ezra 6:2 In-Context

1 Then king Darius commanded, and they reckoned, or sought, in the biblet of books, which books were kept in Babylon. (Then King Darius commanded, and they searched through the books in the library, or in the archives, which books were kept in Babylon.)

2 And one book was found in Ecbatana, which is a castle in the province of Media, and such a sentence of the king was written therein. (But one book was found in the city of Achmetha, in the province of Media, in the castle there, and this statement about the king was written in it;)

3 In the first year of king Cyrus, Cyrus the king deemed, or ordained, that the house of God, which is in Jerusalem, should be builded (again) in the place where they offer(ed) sacrifices, and that they set (a) foundament supporting the height of sixty cubits, and the length of sixty cubits, (In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus ordained that the House of God, which was in Jerusalem, should be rebuilt in the place where they had offered sacrifices, and that they lay a foundation to support a height of sixty cubits, and a length of sixty cubits,)

4 and set they three orders of stones unpolished, and so the orders of new wood. And costs thereto should be given of the king's house. (and build they the walls out of three rows, or three layers, of unpolished stones, and one row, or one layer, of new timber. And let its costs, or its expenses, be paid out of the king's treasury.)

5 But also the golden and silveren vessels of God's temple, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple of Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon, be they yielded, and borne again into the temple of Jerusalem, and into their place, which vessels also be set in the temple of God. (And also let the gold and the silver vessels from the Temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the Temple in Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be given back, and returned to the Temple in Jerusalem, to be put again in their proper place in the Temple of God.)