Ezra 6:1

1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and they sought in the house of the books of the treasuries placed there in Babylon,

Ezra 6:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 6:1

Then Darius the king made a decree
To make inquiry after the edict of Cyrus, to search the public records for it:

and search was made in the house of the rolls;
or "books" ^F18, in a public library or museum:

where the treasures were laid up in Babylon;
where things of worth and value were reposited; not only gold, silver, jewels, and precious stones, and things rare and curious, but all sorts of writings relating to the monarchy, and the dominions belonging to it; but it seems it could not be found here, and therefore the king ordered search to be made elsewhere.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (ayrpo tybb) , (en taiv biblioyhkaiv) , Sept. "in bibliotheca", V. L. "in bibliotheca librorum", Tigurine version; "in domo librorum", Pagninus, Montanus.

Ezra 6:1 In-Context

1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and they sought in the house of the books of the treasuries placed there in Babylon,

2 and there hath been found at Achmetha, in a palace that [is] in the province of Media, a roll, and a record thus written within it [is]:

3 `In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king hath made a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: the house let be builded in the place where they are sacrificing sacrifices, and its foundations strongly laid; its height sixty cubits, its breadth sixty cubits;

4 three rows of rolled stones, and a row of new wood, and the outlay let be given out of the king's house.

5 `And also, the vessels of the house of God, of gold and silver, that Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple that [is] in Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, let be given back, and go to the temple that [is] in Jerusalem, [each] to its place, and put [them] down in the house of God.