Ezra 5:10

10 We also asked for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders ^[a] for your information.

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 Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. The people are rebuilding it with large stones and placing timbers in the walls. This work is being carried out diligently and is prospering in their hands.

9 So we questioned the elders and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?”

10 We also asked for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

11 And this is the answer they returned: “We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

12 But since our fathers angered the God of heaven, He delivered them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean who destroyed this temple and carried away the people to Babylon.

Footnotes

• [a] Aramaic the names of the men at their heads