Ezra 5:10

10 For your information, we also asked them for their names so that we would have a record of the men who were their leaders.

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 Your Majesty should know that we went to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The temple is being built with large stones and with wooden beams laid in its walls. The builders are doing an excellent job and making rapid progress.

9 We asked their leaders the following question: "Who gave you permission to rebuild this temple and finish its walls?"

10 For your information, we also asked them for their names so that we would have a record of the men who were their leaders.

11 This was their reply to us: "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple that was originally built many years ago by a great king of Israel.

12 But because our ancestors made the God of heaven angry, he handed them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (a Chaldean). So Nebuchadnezzar destroyed this temple and deported its people to Babylon.