Ch 5 / 10~3 min
Ezra

Chapter 5

The Prophets Speak, the Work Resumes

Haggai and Zechariah's prophetic urgency to rebuild foreshadows Yeshua, whose word stirs His people to rebuild what has fallen and complete what He began.

  1. The Prophets Stir the People

    Haggai and Zechariah prophesy, and the people resume building. Elohim sends His prophets to reignite what fear had extinguished.

  2. 1Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Yehudim who were in Judah and Jerusalem. They prophesied to them in the name of the Elohim of Israel.
  3. 2Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Yeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build Elohim’s house which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of Elohim, helping them.
  4. The Governor Questions the Builders

    The governor questions the builders, but Elohim's eye watches over them. Human authority investigates, but divine authority protects.

  5. 3At the same time Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, came to them, with Shetharbozenai and their companions, and asked them, “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this wall?”
  6. 4They also asked for the names of the men who were making this building.
  7. 5But the eye of their Elohim was on the elders of the Yehudim, and they didn’t make them cease until the matter should come to Darius, and an answer should be returned by letter concerning it.
  8. 6The copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shetharbozenai, and his companions the Apharsachites who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king follows.
  9. 7They sent a letter to him, in which was written: i To Darius the king, all peace.
  10. 8Be it known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great Elohim, which is being built with great stones and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on with diligence and prospers in their hands.
  11. 9Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus, “Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?”
  12. 10We asked them their names also, to inform you that we might write the names of the men who were at their head.
  13. 11Thus they returned us answer, saying, “We are the servants of the Elohim of heaven and earth and are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.
  14. 12But after our fathers had provoked the Elohim of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away into Babylon.
  15. 13But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree to build this house of Elohim.
  16. 14The gold and silver vessels of Elohim’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king also took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.
  17. 15He said to him, ‘Take these vessels, go, put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let Elohim’s house be built in its place.’
  18. 16Then the same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of Elohim’s house which is in Jerusalem. Since that time even until now it has been being built, and yet it is not completed.
  19. 17Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the king’s treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it is so that a decree was made by Cyrus the king to build this house of Elohim at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.”
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