Ezra 5:6-17

Tattenai's Letter to King Darius

6 This is a copy of the letter that ¹Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the ²governors who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king.

7 They sent him a report, in which was written as follows: "To Darius the king, all peace.

8 Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands.

9 Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ³'Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?'

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

11 And this was their reply to us: 'We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, ⁴which a great king of Israel built and ⁵finished.

12 ⁶But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he ⁷gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia.

13 ⁸However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt.

14 ⁹And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was ¹⁰Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor;

15 and he said to him, "Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site."

16 Then this ¹¹Sheshbazzar came and ¹²laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is ¹³not yet finished.'

17 Therefore, if it seems good to the king, ¹⁴let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter."

Ezra 5:6-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 5

This chapter relates, how that the people of the Jews were stirred up by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah to set about the building of the temple again, notwithstanding the orders to the contrary from the deputy governors of the king of Persia; nor could the present ones cause them to cease from it; though it must be owned they behaved towards them in a better manner than the former ones did, Ezr 5:1-5, and who, upon the answers received from the Jews, wrote a letter to Darius, to know the truth of things; and in which they seem to state fairly the case of the Jews, as they had it from them, so far as they understood it, Ezr 5:6-17.

\\son of Iddo\\ The grandson of Iddo; for he was the son of Berechiah, Zec 1:1,

\\prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name\\ \\of the God of Israel\\; this they both did in the second year of Darius; the one began in the sixth month, and the other in the eighth month of the year, Hag 1:1, Zec 1:1, even "unto them"; or "against them", as De Dieu; reproving them for their sloth and neglect of building the temple, when they were careful enough to raise up goodly houses for themselves to dwell in; and for being intimidated by the command of the king of Persia, which only forbid the building of the city, that is, the walls of it, but not the temple any more than their own houses; and besides, there was now a new king, from whom they had not so much to fear. 20094-950306-0810-Ezr5.2

Cross References

• 1. [See ver. 3 above]
• 2. [Ezra 4:9]
• 3. [See ver. 3 above]
• 4. 1 Kings 6:1
• 5. Ezra 4:12
• 6. 2 Chronicles 36:16, 17
• 7. 2 Kings 24:2; See 2 Kings 25:8-11
• 8. Ezra 1:1
• 9. Ezra 1:7, 8; Ezra 6:5
• 10. Ezra 1:8
• 11. [See ver. 14 above]
• 12. Ezra 3:8, 10
• 13. [Ezra 6:15]
• 14. Ezra 6:1, 2

Footnotes

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