Ezra 6:10-20

10 that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven ¹and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

11 Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and ²his house shall be made a dunghill.

12 May the God ³who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence. ”

The Temple Finished and Dedicated

13 Then, according to the word sent by Darius the king, ⁴Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered.

14 ⁵And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and ⁶by decree of Cyrus and ⁷Darius and ⁸Artaxerxes king of Persia;

15 and this house was finished on the third day of the ⁹month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

16 And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the ¹⁰dedication of this house of God with joy.

17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

18 And they set the priests ¹¹in their divisions and the Levites ¹²in their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, ¹³as it is written in the Book of Moses.

Passover Celebrated

19 ¹⁴On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover.

20 ¹⁵For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. ¹⁶So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves.

Ezra 6:10-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 6

Darius, on receiving the letter from his officers in Samaria, searched for the decree of Cyrus, and found it, and which he confirmed, Ezr 6:1-7 and made a fresh decree, and ordered expenses to be given out of his tribute for the building of the temple, and for the sacrifices of it; and that whosoever altered it should be hanged on the timber of his own house, and imprecated a curse on those that should destroy the house of God, Ezr 6:8-12 upon which the building went on, and was finished, Ezr 6:13-15 and the temple was dedicated to God in a solemn manner, Ezr 6:16-18, and the passover was kept by all the people, Ezr 6:19-22.

Cross References

• 1. 6:10 Jer. 29:7; [1 Tim. 2:2]
• 2. 6:11 Dan. 2:5; 3:29
• 3. 6:12 1 Kgs. 9:3
• 4. 6:13 [See ver. 6 above]
• 5. 6:14 ch. 5:1, 2
• 6. 6:14 ver. 3; ch. 1:1; 5:13
• 7. 6:14 ver. 12; [ch. 4:24]
• 8. 6:14 ch. 7:1
• 9. 6:15 Esth. 3:7
• 10. 6:16 1 Kgs. 8:63; 2 Chr. 7:5
• 11. 6:17 [ch. 8:35]
• 12. 6:18 1 Chr. 24:1; 2 Chr. 35:5
• 13. 6:18 1 Chr. 23:6
• 14. 6:18 Num. 3:6; 8:9
• 15. 6:19 Ex. 12:6
• 16. 6:20 2 Chr. 30:15
• 17. 6:20 2 Chr. 35:11