33The descendants of Solomon’s servants: the descendants of Assaphioth, the descendants of Peruda, the descendants of Jaalah, the descendants of Lozon, the descendants of Isdael, the descendants of Shephatiah, 34the descendants of Agia, the descendants of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the descendants of Sarothie, the descendants of Masiah, the descendants of Gas, the descendants of Addus, the descendants of Subas, the descendants of Apherra, the descendants of Barodis, the descendants of Shaphat, the descendants of Allon.
35All the temple servants and the descendants of Solomon’s servants were three hundred seventy-two.
36The following are those who came up from Tel-melah and Tel-harsha, under the leadership of Cherub, Addan, and Immer, 37though they could not prove by their ancestral houses or lineage that they belonged to Israel: the descendants of Delaiah son of Tobiah, and the descendants of Nekoda, six hundred fifty-two.
38Of the priests the following had assumed the priesthood but were not found registered: the descendants of Habaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Jaddus who had married Agia, one of the daughters of Barzillai, and was called by his name. 39When a search was made in the register and the genealogy of these men was not found, they were excluded from serving as priests. 40And Nehemiah and Atthariasb told them not to share in the holy things until a high priest should appear wearing Urim and Thummim.c
41All those of Israel, twelve or more years of age, besides male and female servants, were forty-two thousand three hundred sixty; 42their male and female servants were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; there were two hundred forty-five musicians and singers. 43There were four hundred thirty-five camels, and seven thousand thirty-six horses, two hundred forty-five mules, and five thousand five hundred twenty-five donkeys.
44Some of the heads of families, when they came to the temple of God that is in Jerusalem, vowed that, to the best of their ability, they would erect the house on its site, 45and that they would give to the sacred treasury for the work a thousand minas of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priests’ vestments.
46The priests, the Levites, and some of the peopled settled in Jerusalem and its vicinity; and the temple singers, the gatekeepers, and all Israel in their towns.
Worship Begins Again
47When the seventh month came, and the Israelites were all in their own homes, they gathered with a single purpose in the square before the first gate toward the east. 48Then Jeshua son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, with his kinsmen, took their places and prepared the altar of the God of Israel, 49to offer burnt offerings upon it, in accordance with the directions in the book of Moses the man of God. 50And some joined them from the other peoples of the land. And they erected the altar in its place, for all the peoples of the land were hostile to them and were stronger than they; and they offered sacrifices at the proper times and burnt offerings to the Lord morning and evening. 51They kept the festival of booths, as it is commanded in the law, and offered the proper sacrifices every day, 52and thereafter the regular offerings and sacrifices on sabbaths and at new moons and at all the consecrated feasts. 53And all who had made any vow to God began to offer sacrifices to God, from the new moon of the seventh month, though the temple of God was not yet built. 54They gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food and drink 55and cartse to the Sidonians and the Tyrians, to bring cedar logs from Lebanon and convey them in rafts to the harbor of Joppa, according to the decree that they had in writing from King Cyrus of the Persians.
The Foundations of the Temple Laid
56In the second year after their coming to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with their kindred and the levitical priests and all who had come back to Jerusalem from exile; 57and they laid the foundation of the temple of God on the new moon of the second month in the second year after they came to Judea and Jerusalem. 58They appointed the Levites who were twenty or more years of age to have charge of the work of the Lord. And Jeshua arose, and his sons and kindred and his brother Kadmiel and the sons of Jeshua Emadabun and the sons of Joda son of Iliadun, with their sons and kindred, all the Levites, pressing forward the work on the house of God with a single purpose.
So the builders built the temple of the Lord. 59And the priests stood arrayed in their vestments, with musical instruments and trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, 60praising the Lord and blessing him, according to the directions of King David of Israel; 61they sang hymns, giving thanks to the Lord, “For his goodness and his glory are forever upon all Israel.” 62And all the people sounded trumpets and shouted with a great shout, praising the Lord for the erection of the house of the Lord. 63Some of the levitical priests and heads of ancestral houses, old men who had seen the former house, came to the building of this one with outcries and loud weeping, 64while many came with trumpets and a joyful noise, 65so that the people could not hear the trumpets because of the weeping of the people.
For the multitude sounded the trumpets loudly, so that the sound was heard far away; 66and when the enemies of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin heard it, they came to find out what the sound of the trumpets meant. 67They learned that those who had returned from exile were building the temple for the Lord God of Israel. 68So they approached Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the heads of the ancestral houses and said to them, “We will build with you. 69For we obey your Lord just as you do and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of King Esar-haddonf of the Assyrians, who brought us here.” 70But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the heads of the ancestral houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building the house for the Lord our God, 71for we alone will build it for the Lord of Israel, as Cyrus, the king of the Persians, has commanded us.” 72But the peoples of the land pressed hardg upon those in Judea, cut off their supplies, and hindered their building; 73and by plots and demagoguery and uprisings they prevented the completion of the building as long as King Cyrus lived. They were kept from building for two years, until the reign of Darius.
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a Other ancient authorities read Acub or Acum
b Or the governor
c Gk Manifestation and Truth
d Or those who were of the people
e Meaning of Gk uncertain
f Gk Asbasareth
g Meaning of Gk uncertain
5.1–6 These verses correspond to nothing in Ezra and are obviously designed as a link between the story of the three bodyguards in chs. 3–4 and the material from Ezra that resumes in 5.7. The book of Ezra has no account of a return of exiles in the time of Darius.
5.1 The idea that certain exiles were chosen to go up, to return to the land, is not found elsewhere. In Ezra 1.5 it is those “whose spirit God had stirred,” and in Ezra 8.16–17 certain classes of exiles are prevailed upon to join Ezra’s company. Their livestock, as in Ezra 1.4, 6.
5.2 The inclusion of a thousand cavalry is unparalleled elsewhere, though cf. Neh 2.9. With the music of drums and flutes. The picture is of a religious procession or perhaps a military march. The music, however, might be simply for the farewell.
5.4 These are the names…who went up. What follows is not a full list of returnees, so there seems to be some problem with the text.
5.5 Something is amiss here, since Joakim is not one of the sons of Zerubbabel according to 1 Chr 3.19, and, more important, Zerubbabel is not a priest but a ruler from the tribe of Judah. There must be some error in the text.
5.6 Who spoke wise words before King Darius, Zerubbabel and his speech in 4.13–40. The author knows that the building of the temple was halted until the second year of the reign of King Darius (2.30), so the contest is dated to the month of Nisan, the first month of that year, to explain how Zerubbabel came to be appointed as director of the temple works.
5.7–46 This inventory of inhabitants of Judea at some unknown period in
postexilic times is copied from Ezra 2.1–70 (Neh 7.6–73a) and assigned to the time of Zerubbabel, whose name is indeed the first in the list of leaders of returning exiles (v. 8). The number of the Judeans differs somewhat in the various lists: there are, for example, 2, 150 more inhabitants of Judea in 1 Esd 5 than in Ezra 2, and several names are missing from either list. The differences all seem to be due to scribal error.
5.40 Nehemiah and Attharias. Ezra 2.63 has simply “the governor” (in Hebrew hattirshata). This has been understood as a reference to Nehemiah (who is called by this term in Neh 8.9), and then the term has been misunderstood as a proper name, Attharias. Urim and Thummim, the sacred lots used by the priests to make decisions (see note on Ezra 2.63).
5.47–55 This account of the restoration of worship is largely identical with that in Ezra 3.1–7.
5.47 In this context (cf. 2.30; 5.6) this is the seventh month in the second year of Darius I (520 BCE). In Ezra 3.1, however, it is in the first year of Cyrus (538 BCE). The transference of the return and the resumption of worship to the reign of Darius serves to emphasize further the work of Zerubbabel. In the square…the east, i.e., in the vicinity of the temple. The phrase is not paralleled in the account in Ezra 3.
5.50 Some joined them from the other peoples of the land is an interesting addition to the narrative taken from Ezra. It may be due simply to a scribal error, for it is hard to see why some of the other inhabitants would have joined in the worship if all the peoples of the land were hostile to them (cf. also 5.66–71).
5.52 Sacrifices on sabbaths, an addition to the Ezra account perhaps reflecting the increasing prominence of the sabbath.
5.55 Carts. Ezra 3.7 reads “oil.” Convey them in rafts, a quite correct explanation of the mode of transport from the Lebanon.
5.56–73 The foundations of the temple.
5.62 All the people sounded trumpets, not in Ezra 3, is a strange comment, since trumpets were usually blown by priests (e.g., Num 10.2–10).
5.64–65 Trumpets, also not paralleled in Ezra 3.
5.73 Kept from building for two years, apparently a misunderstanding of the reference to “the second year” of Darius in Ezra 4.24. The account in Ezra envisages cessation of work on the temple from about the second year of Cyrus (537 BCE) to the second year of Darius (520 BCE).
1 ESDRAS 6
Work on the Temple Begins Again
1Now in the second year of the reign of Darius, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews who were in Judea and Jerusalem; they prophesied to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. 2Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began to build the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, with the help of the prophets of the Lord who were with them.
3At the same time Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phoenicia and Sathrabuzanes and their associates came to them and said, 4“By whose order are you building this house and this roof and finishing all the other things? And who are the builders that are finishing these things?” 5Yet the elders of the Jews were dealt with kindly, for the providence of the Lord was over the captives; 6they were not prevented from building until word could be sent to Darius concerning them and a report made.
7A copy of the letter that Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and their associates the local rulers in Syria and Phoenicia, wrote and sent to Darius:
8“To King Darius, greetings. Let it be fully known to our lord the king that, when we went to the country of Judea and entered the city of Jerusalem, we found the elders of the Jews, who had been in exile, 9building in the city of Jerusalem a great new house for the Lord, of hewn stone, with costly timber laid in the walls. 10These operations are going on rapidly, and the work is prospering in their hands and being completed with all splendor and care. 11Then we asked these elders, ‘At whose command are you building this house and laying the foundations of this structure?’ 12In order that we might inform you in writing who the leaders are, we questioned them and asked them for a list of the names of those who are at their head. 13They answered us, ‘We are the servants of the Lord who created the heaven and the earth. 14The house was built many years ago by a king of Israel who was great and strong, and it was finished. 15But when our ancestors sinned against the Lord of Israel who is in heaven, and provoked him, he gave them over into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, king of the Chaldeans; 16and they pulled down the house, and burned it, and carried the people away captive to Babylon. 17But in the first year that Cyrus reigned over the country of Babylonia, King Cyrus wrote that this house should be rebuilt. 18And the holy vessels of gold and of silver, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the house in Jerusalem and stored in his own temple, these King Cyrus took out again from the temple in Babylon, and they were delivered to Zerubbabel and Sheshbazzara the governor 19with the command that he should take all these vessels back and put them in the temple at Jerusalem, and that this temple of the Lord should be rebuilt on its site. 20Then this Sheshbazzar, after coming here, laid the foundations of the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. Although it has been in process of construction from that time until now, it has not yet reached completion.’ 21Now therefore, O king, if it seems wise to do so, let search be made in the royal archives of our lordb the king that are in Babylon; 22if it is found that the building of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem was done with the consent of King Cyrus, and if it is approved by our lord the king, let him send us directions concerning these things.”
Official Permission Granted
23Then Darius commanded that search be made in the royal archives that were deposited in Babylon. And in Ecbatana, the fortress that is in the country of Media, a scrollc was found in which this was recorded: 24“In the first year of the reign of King Cyrus, he ordered the building of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, where they sacrifice with perpetual fire; 25its height to be sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, with three courses of hewn stone and one course of new native timber; the cost to be paid from the treasury of King Cyrus; 26and that the holy vessels of the house of the Lord, both of gold and of silver, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the house in Jerusalem and carried away to Babylon, should be restored to the house in Jerusalem, to be placed where they had been.”
27So Dariusd commanded Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and their associates, and those who were appointed as local rulers in Syria and Phoenicia, to keep away from the place, and to permit Zerubbabel, the servant of the Lord and governor of Judea, and the elders of the Jews to build this house of the Lord on its site. 28“And I command that it be built completely, and that full effort be made to help those who have returned from the exile of Judea, until the house of the Lord is finished; 29and that out of the tribute of Coelesyria and Phoenicia a portion be scrupulously given to these men, that is, to Zerubbabel the governor, for sacrifices to the Lord, for bulls and rams and lambs, 30and likewise wheat and salt and wine and oil, regularly every year, without quibbling, for daily use as the priests in Jerusalem may indicate, 31in order that libations may be made to the Most High God for the king and his children, and prayers be offered for their lives.”
32He commanded that if anyone should transgress or nullify any of the things herein written,e a beam should be taken out of the house of the perpetrator, who then should be impaled upon it, and all property forfeited to the king.
33“Therefore may the Lord, whose name is there called upon, destroy every king and nation that shall stretch out their hands to hinder or damage that house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
34“I, King Darius, have decreed that it be done with all diligence as here prescribed.”
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a Gk Sanabassarus
b Other ancient authorities read of Cyrus
c Other authorities read passage
d Gk he
e Other authorities read stated above or added in writing
6.1–34 Work begins again.
/> 6.4 Finishing all the other things. Perhaps the author of 1 Esdras has in mind that other buildings in addition to the temple were in progress (as in 2.18, where the building of the temple and the building of the city are conflated).
6.18–20 Zerubbabel, an addition to Ezra 5.14; it is a curious feature of the Ezra account that Zerubbabel’s name is missing, and the absence is probably significant in some way. Nevertheless, it is Sheshbazzar, not Zerubbabel, who lays the foundations of the temple (6.20); in the Hebrew of Ezra 3.6 it is not a matter of laying foundations but of repairing the building.
6.27 Zerubbabel, the servant…Judea. In Ezra 6.7 the reference is solely to “the governor of the Jews” the naming of Zerubbabel and especially the title given to him are evidence of his importance in the eyes of the author of 1 Esdras.
1 ESDRAS 7
The Temple Is Dedicated
1Then Sisinnes the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and their associates, following the orders of King Darius, 2supervised the holy work with very great care, assisting the elders of the Jews and the chief officers of the temple. 3The holy work prospered, while the prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied; 4and they completed it by the command of the Lord God of Israel. So with the consent of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of the Persians, 5the holy house was finished by the twenty-third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of King Darius. 6And the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of those who returned from exile who joined them, did according to what was written in the book of Moses. 7They offered at the dedication of the temple of the Lord one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, 8and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the twelve leaders of the tribes of Israel; 9and the priests and the Levites stood arrayed in their vestments, according to kindred, for the services of the Lord God of Israel in accordance with the book of Moses; and the gatekeepers were at each gate.
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