Ezra 7:8
in Ezra 7Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
KJV
And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
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This verse in Ezra 7
Commentary
8 notes on this verseHe came to Jerusalem in the fifth month - From the following verse we learn that Ezra and his company set off from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and thus we find they were upwards of four months on their journey. They could not travel fast, as they were a great company, composed in part of the aged and infirm, besides multitudes of women and children. They appear also to have taken a circuitous route. See on Ezr 8:24-32 (note).
This site's exposition
in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes
on Ezra 7:7-9
Priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers and temple servants go up with Ezra. He left Babylon on the first day of the first month and arrived on the first day of the fifth. Jamieson Fausset and Brown attribute the slow pace to a caravan carrying the aged, women, children and goods.
This site's exposition
in the fifth month of the seventh year
The commentators differ on which king's seventh year this is. Albert Barnes takes Artaxerxes as Longimanus, grandson of Darius, and Bede reports that Josephus made him Xerxes. John Gill, with Jarchi and Aben Ezra, identifies him with the Darius of chapter 6.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Some think that this Artaxerxes was the same with that Darius whose decree we had ( ch. vi. ), and that Ezra came the very year after the temple was finished: that was the sixth year, this the seventh (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month,.... With the above company; this was the month Abib, answering to part of July and part of August: which was in the seventh year of the king; as in the preceding verse.
The commission runs, we suppose, in the usual form: Artaxerxes, King of kings. This however is too high a title for any mortal man to assume; he was indeed king of some kings, but to speak as if he were king of all kings was to usurp his prerogative who hath all power both in heaven and in earth.
When he went many more went with him, because they desired not to stay in Babylon when he had gone thence, and because they would venture to dwell in Jerusalem when he had gone thither. How kind his God was to him. He obtained this favour from his king and country by the good hand of the Lord that was upon him,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
As he left Babylon on the Jewish New Year's Day (Ezr 7:9), the journey must have occupied not less than four months (a long period), but it was necessary to move at a slow pace and by short, easy stages, as he had to conduct a large caravan of poor people, including women, children, and all their household gear (see on Ezr 8:24).
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּבֹ֥א | vaiyavo' | and he came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖ם | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁ | bachodesh | in the month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| הַחֲמִישִׁ֑י | hachamishi | <the> fifth | H2549 → | |
| הִ֛יא | hi' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| שְׁנַ֥ת | shenat | [was] [the] year | H8141 → | 877 times |
| הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖ית | hasheviit | <of the> seventh | H7637 → | 98 times |
| לַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ | lamelekh | of the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
וַיָּבֹ֥אand he came
vaiyavo'H935 →2568 times
יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖םJerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁin the month
bachodeshH2320 →284 times
הַחֲמִישִׁ֑י<the> fifth
hachamishiH2549 →
הִ֛יאit
hi'H1931 →1879 times
שְׁנַ֥ת[was] [the] year
shenatH8141 →877 times
הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖ית<of the> seventh
hasheviitH7637 →98 times
לַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃of the king
lamelekhH4428 →2525 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this chapter
About Ezra
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonReturn from exileEzraPriest and ready scribe of the law of Moses who came up from Babylon, set his heart to seek, do, and teach the law, and led the re…
- PlaceJerusalemJerusalemThe city David took from the Jebusites and made his capital, where Solomon built the temple, where Christ was crucified and rose,…
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.