EZRA

Ezra 3

1The altar is set up. 4The festival and daily burnt offerings renewed. 7Workmen employed in preparing materials for the building. 8Under the direction of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the priests and Levites assisting, the foundation of the temple is laid amidst the rejoicing of some, and the weeping of others.


1AND when the 1seventh month 2was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together 3as one man to Jerusalem.

1 Called, Tisrih, agreeing partly with our September and partly with our October. In this month was kept the feast of tabernacles, Lev. 23:24; Num. 29:12.

2 Hebr. touched.

3 See Judges 20 on verse 1.

2Then stood up 4Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his 5brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the 6son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is writtena in the law of Moses the 7man of God.

4 See Ezra 2 on verse 2.

5 That is, kinsmen of near kin, who were of the same kindred, and so in the following.

6 That is, his grandchild; for, he was a son of Pedaiah, who was the son of Salathiel, 1 Chron. 3:17, 18, 19. In Mat. 1:12 he is called Salathiel.

aDeut. 12:5, 6.

7 See Judges 13 on verse 6.

3And they set the altar upon his bases; 8for fear was upon them be-cause of the people of those 9coun-tries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt offerings 10morningb and evening.

8 That is, they did not omit the service of God, although they were afraid, etc. Other, but with terror, etc.; that is, they endeavored by the exercise of the true religion to secure and safeguard themselves against their enemies.

9 Understand the surrounding countries wherein their enemies dwelt. See Ezra 4:1, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc.

10 See Num. 28:3, 4, etc., with the annotation.

bNum. 28:3.

4They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the 11custom,c as the 12duty of every day required;

11 See Num. 29:12, etc.

cLev. 23:34; Num. 29:12.

12 Hebr. the word or the matter of a day on its day.

5And afterward offered the 13continual burnt offering, both of the newd moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were 14consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD.

13 See Num. 28 on verse 6.

dNum. 28:11, etc.; Neh. 10:33.

14 See Lev. 8 on verse 10.

6From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.

7They gave money also unto the 15masons, and to the carpenters; and 16meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from 17Lebanon to the sea of 18Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

15 Hewers of wood and hewers of stone, who hewed wood out of the forests and stones out of the rocks. The Hebrew word comprehends both, and both were necessary for the building of the temple.

16 After the example of Solomon, 1 Kings 5:6, 9, 11.

17 See 1 Kings 4 on verse 33.

18 Hebr. Japho. In Acts 9:36 it is called Joppa also. See 2 Chron. 2 on verse 16.

8¶Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the 19second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, 20from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the LORD.

19 Called Ijar, answering partly to April and partly to May.

20 Hebr. a son of twenty years.

9Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of 21Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

21 In Ezra 2:40 called Hodaviah, and in Neh. 7:43 Hodevah.

10And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests 22in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the 23ordinance of David king of Israel.

22 Namely, with the priestly garments.

23 Hebr. according to the hands, that is, (as some perceive) with psalms, which David had made and ordained for that purpose. See 2 Chron. 5:13; 29:27, and compare 1 Chron. 16:7, etc.

11And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

12But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this 24house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

24 Some thus: those that had seen the first house laid upon its foundation, this house being now before their eyes, etc. The sense is, that they now beholding with their eyes the laying of the foundation of this temple, and comparing the same with the foundation of the first temple, would easily gather from this, how much this building differed from the former. See Hag. 2:3.

13So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.