Ezra 3:6

6 In the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt sacrifice(s) to the Lord; certainly the temple of God was not founded yet. (On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer the burnt sacrifices to the Lord, even though the foundation of the Temple of God had not yet been laid.)

Ezra 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 3:6

From the first of the seventh month began they to offer
burnt offerings unto the Lord
And which day was not only a new moon, but a grand festival, the feast of blowing of trumpets, ( Leviticus 23:24 Leviticus 23:25 ) , and no doubt but they observed the tenth day of this month, with all the rites of it, which was the day of atonement, ( Leviticus 23:27-32 ) ,

but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid;
they began first with sacrifices, that having thereby given thanks to God for their return to their own land, and for all the benefits they enjoyed, and made atonement for their sins in a typical way, they might be the more prepared and fit for the work of building the temple; or, "though the foundation" of it was not laid F26, yet they offered the above sacrifices.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 Etsi, Michaelis.

Ezra 3:6 In-Context

4 And they made the solemnity of tabernacles, as it is written, and they offered burnt sacrifice(s) each day by order, by the work of the day commanded in his day. (And they kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt sacrifices in order, as the custom of each day required.)
5 And after this they offered the continual burnt sacrifice, both in calends and in all solemnities of the Lord, that were hallowed, and in all, in which (a) gift was offered to the Lord by free will. (And in addition to this, they offered the continual burnt sacrifices that were ordained, and the sacrifices, or the offerings, on calends, that is, on the first day of the month, and at all the Feasts to honour the Lord, as well as all the freewill offerings, or gifts, that were given to the Lord.)
6 In the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt sacrifice(s) to the Lord; certainly the temple of God was not founded yet. (On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer the burnt sacrifices to the Lord, even though the foundation of the Temple of God had not yet been laid.)
7 But they gave money to the hewers of stone(s), and to the layers of stone(s), and they gave meat, and drink, and oil, to men of Sidon, and to men of Tyre, that they should bring cedar trees from the Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, by that that Cyrus, king of Persia, had commanded to them. (And they gave money to the stone-cutters, and to the stone-layers, and they gave food, and drink, and oil, to men of Sidon, and to men of Tyre, to bring cedar wood from Lebanon over the sea to Joppa, as Cyrus, the king of Persia, had commanded them.)
8 And in the second year of their coming to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, and Joshua, the son of Jozadak, and others of their brethren, priests and deacons, and all that came from the captivity into Jerusalem, began the work of God's temple; and they ordained deacons, from twenty years and above, for to hasten the work of the Lord; (And so in the second year of their coming back to rebuild the Temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and others of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites, and all who came back from the captivity to Jerusalem, began work on God's Temple; and they ordained the Levites, from twenty years of age and older, to oversee, or to supervise, the work of the Lord;)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.