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Ezra 5:9

in Ezra 5

So we questioned the elders and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?

KJV

Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls?

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This verse in Ezra 5

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Then asked we those elders

on Ezra 5:9-10

Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, who commanded you to build this house: the letter now gives its own account of the interrogation on site. Tatnai's men take names as well as an answer, so the king can verify who stands behind the work rather than judge a rumor. John Gill notes the request is procedural, meant to let the king call the builders to account if the claim proves false. The letter's care to record both question and answer keeps Darius from ruling on hearsay.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Then asked we those elders,.... The elders of the province of Judea; the chief men of it: who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls? see Ezr 5:3.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Note, (1.) The temple of God among men is to be built by prophecy, not by secular force (that often hinders it, but seldom furthers it), but by the word of God. As the weapons of our warfare, so the instruments of our building, are not carnal, but spiritual, and they are the ministers of the gospel that are the master-builders.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Not a word was uttered to dispirit the Jews or afford cause of triumph to their opponents. Matters were to go on till contrary orders arrived from Babylon. After surveying the work in progress, he inquired: first, by what authority this national temple was undertaken; and, secondly, the names of the principal promoters and directors of the undertaking.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

also..their names We also asked them the names of the builders, the heads of the construction, in order to let you know.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezra 5:10:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

17 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

    ʾedayinH116 →57 times

  • שְׁאֵ֙לְנָא֙we asked

    sheelena'H7593 →6 times

  • לְשָׂבַיָּ֣אto elders the

    lesavaiya'H7868 →5 times

  • אִלֵּ֔ךְthese

    ʾilekhH479 →14 times

  • כְּנֵ֖מָאas follows

    kenema'H3660 →5 times

  • אֲמַ֣רְנָאwe said

    ʾamarna'H560 →71 times

  • לְּהֹ֑םto them

    lehom

  • מַן־who?

    man-H4479 →10 times

  • שָׂ֨םdid he make

    samH7761 →26 times

  • לְכֹ֜םfor you

    lekhom

  • טְעֵ֗םa decree

    teemH2942 →28 times

  • בַּיְתָ֤אhouse the

    bayta'H1005 →44 times

  • דְנָה֙this

    denahH1836 →58 times

  • לְמִבְנְיָ֔הto build

    lemivneyahH1124 →22 times

  • וְאֻשַּׁרְנָ֥אand structure the

    veusharna'H846 →

  • דְנָ֖הthis

    denahH1836 →58 times

  • לְשַׁכְלָלָֽה׃to finish

    leshakhlalahH3635 →7 times

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

Related verses

2 in all, six open

About Ezra

Ezra Kneels in Prayer, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezra Kneels in Prayer, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezra: the study guide →Read Ezra 5 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. F. Adeney, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Expositor's Bible).

Read on in Ezra 5 →