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Ezra 6

KJV · Chapter 6/10

1Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.

2And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written:

3In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;

4With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house:

5And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.

6Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar–boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence:

7Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place.

8Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered.

9And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail:

10That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.

11Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this.

12And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed.

13Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shethar–boznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily.

14And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

15And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

16And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,

17And offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

18And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.

19And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.

20For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.

21And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat,

22And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

King Darius has the royal archives searched and finds Cyrus's original decree, confirming the authorization to rebuild the temple. He orders the work to continue with financial support, and the temple is finally completed and dedicated with great joy.

Explanation

The search of the royal archives in Ecbatana reveals that the written memory of an old promise can, years later, become the proof that rescues a stalled project. Darius not only confirms Cyrus's order but goes further, decreeing that the royal treasury fund the work and the temple's offerings — quite a turnaround for a people who had faced opposition. The dedication of the temple, followed by the celebration of Passover, marks the symbolic end of the exile and the resumption of organized religious life in Jerusalem. The lesson is that God's promises, even when filed away and forgotten for a time, can be recovered at just the right moment.

Fun facts

  • Ecbatana, where the decree was found, was the summer capital of the Persian kings, located in what is now the region of Iran — showing that the Persian royal archives were organized and kept in different cities across the empire.
  • The temple was completed in the sixth year of Darius's reign, about 20 years after the rebuilding began, showing how the project endured decades of ups and downs.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezra 6:1Darius grants the request and has his archivists search the official record houses in Babylon for any trace of Cyrus's old decree.
  2. Ezra 6:2The document turns up not in Babylon but in Achmetha, another capital of the Persian empire in the region of Media, where it had been kept for decades along with other official records.
  3. Ezra 6:3Darius has the royal archives searched and the original record of Cyrus's decree is found, with exact measurements for the temple. This discovery shows how the Persian empire kept administrative documents for decades, and it is precisely this record that settles the dispute in the Jews' favor.
  4. Ezra 6:4Cyrus's original decree spelled out even the building materials, stone and timber, and ordered that the expenses come out of the royal treasury, not out of the people's own pockets.
  5. Ezra 6:5The document confirms that the sacred vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar were to be restored to their place of origin, the temple in Jerusalem, exactly as Cyrus had ordered.
  6. Ezra 6:6After confirming the old decree, Darius orders Governor Tatnai and his companions to simply stay away and stop interfering with the work.
  7. Ezra 6:7Darius explicitly orders the construction to continue without interruption, letting the Jews and their own governor carry on the work at its usual site.
  8. Ezra 6:8More than just permitting the work, Darius decrees that the royal treasury itself fund the rebuilding, drawing the money from the tribute collected in the region west of the Euphrates.
  9. Ezra 6:9Darius orders the royal treasury itself to fund the Jews' daily sacrifices, including animals, wheat, salt, wine, and oil. A foreign king paying for another people's worship shows how Persian policy favored religious autonomy in conquered provinces, so long as it kept the peace.
  10. Ezra 6:10In exchange for the funding, Darius asks for something quite practical: that the priests also pray for his life and his sons' lives during the sacrifices.
  11. Ezra 6:11The penalty for disobedience was brutal: a beam was to be pulled from the offender's own house, set up on end, and used to hang him on it right there.
  12. Ezra 6:12Darius ends the decree by asking that the God of the Jews Himself destroy any king or people who might try to destroy this temple in the future — a pagan king invoking divine protection over a project not his own.
  13. Ezra 6:13As soon as they receive the order, Tatnai and his companions obey without delay, exactly as Darius had decreed.
  14. Ezra 6:14The work advances successfully thanks to the steady encouragement of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, with the formal approval of three different Persian kings: Cyrus, Darius, and later Artaxerxes.
  15. Ezra 6:15The temple is finished in the sixth year of Darius's reign, closing out a process that had begun decades earlier with Cyrus. About twenty years passed between the first decree and the completion of the work, with stoppages, accusations, and fresh starts along the way.
  16. Ezra 6:16Priests, Levites, and all the people who had returned celebrate together the dedication of the finished temple, a moment of joy after so many years of the work being stopped and started again.
  17. Ezra 6:17The dedication sacrifices include twelve male goats for a sin offering, one for each tribe of Israel — a symbolic gesture that the temple was for the whole people, even with only a few tribes actually represented there.
  18. Ezra 6:18Priests and Levites are organized into work shifts, following the system of divisions already written down since the days of Moses — worship was resuming not just the building, but also the old routine.
  19. Ezra 6:19In the very same year the temple is finished, the people already celebrate the first Passover there, on the fourteenth day of the first month, just as the law had always required.
  20. Ezra 6:20Before celebrating the Passover, priests and Levites purify themselves together, as one man, so they can prepare the lamb sacrifice for the whole people. It is the first Passover celebrated in the rebuilt temple, and the care taken over purification shows the symbolic weight of this fresh start.
  21. Ezra 6:21The Passover meal is shared both by those who had returned from exile and by some local residents who had decided to leave behind the pagan customs of the region to seek the God of Israel.
  22. Ezra 6:22For seven days they keep the feast of unleavened bread, and the text credits even the goodwill of the Persian king to God, calling him here by the old title king of Assyria, the empire Persia had absorbed.

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