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Ezra 4:23

in Ezra 4

When the text of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and forcibly stopped them.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.

KJV

Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.

This verse in Ezra 4

Commentary

2 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

As they abused the king in obtaining this order by their mis-informations, so they abused him in the execution of it; for the order was only to prevent the walling of the city, but, having force and power on their side, they construed it as relating to the temple, for it was that to which they had an ill will, and which they only wanted some colour to hinder the building of.

This site's exposition

they went up in haste

on Ezra 4:23-24

With the king's letter in hand, Rehum, Shimshai and their companions go up to Jerusalem in haste and make the Jews cease by force and power, the topical block on opposition reaching its practical end. Verse 24 then closes the parenthesis exactly where it opened, returning the narrative to the temple's own story with the same verb the chapter began with, ceased, and dating the resumption to the second year of the reign of Darius. Keil and the bench read this return as the chapter's own signal that verses 6 through 23 stand as a deliberate aside on hostility itself, since chapter 5 picks up the temple work already stopped by chapter 4 verse 5's earlier notice.

The words behind it

23 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אֱדַ֗יִןthen

    ʾedayinH11657 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H4481109 times

  • דִּ֞יthat

    diH1768345 times

  • פַּרְשֶׁ֤גֶן[the] copy of

    parshegenH65733 times

  • נִשְׁתְּוָנָא֙letter the

    nishtevana'H54073 times

  • דִּ֚יof

    diH1768345 times

  • אַרְתַּחְשַׁ֣שְׂתְּArtaxerxes

    ʾartachshasteH78315 times

  • מַלְכָּ֔אking the

    malka'H4430180 times

  • קֱרִ֧יit was read aloud

    keriH7123

  • קֳדָם־before

    kodom-H692542 times

  • רְח֛וּםRehum

    rechumH73488 times

  • וְשִׁמְשַׁ֥יand Shimshai

    veshimshaiH81244 times

  • סָפְרָ֖אscribe the

    safera'H56138 times

  • וּכְנָוָתְה֑וֹןand associates their

    ukhenavatehonH36757 times

  • אֲזַ֨לוּthey went

    ʾazaluH2367 times

  • בִבְהִיל֤וּin haste

    vivhiluH924

  • לִירֽוּשְׁלֶם֙to Jerusalem

    lirushelemH339026 times

  • עַל־to

    ʾal-H5922104 times

  • יְה֣וּדָיֵ֔אJews the

    yehudaye'H306210 times

  • וּבַטִּ֥לוּand they made to cease

    uvatiluH9896 times

  • הִמּ֖וֹthem

    himoH199412 times

  • בְּאֶדְרָ֥עwith force

    beedra'H153

  • וְחָֽיִל׃ סand power

    vechayilH2429

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Romans 3:15

    “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 1:16

      For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Isaiah 59:7–8

      Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.

  • Through

    Micah 2:1

    Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 36:4

      Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Isaiah 32:7

      The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.

    • Psalms 7:14–16

      Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.

    • Hosea 7:6–7

      For they prepare their heart like an oven while they lie in wait; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

    • Nahum 1:11

      From you, O Nineveh, comes forth a plotter of evil against the LORD, a counselor of wickedness.

  • Through

    Proverbs 4:16

    For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.

    it leads to

    • Micah 2:1

      Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.

About Ezra

This page draws on Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. F. Adeney, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Expositor's Bible).