Online Bible

Book of Ezra, Chapter 4

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Ezra 4 NASB - New American Standard BibleEzra 4 NASB - New American Standard Bible

Chapter 4 of Ezra—New American Standard Bible (NASB)

  1. ¶ Now when 1the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that 2the people of the exile were building a temple to the LORD God of Israel,
  2. they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; 3and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of 4Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.”
  3. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “5You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, 6as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”
  4. ¶ Then 7the people of the land [a]discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building,
  5. and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
  6. ¶ Now in the reign of [b]8Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
  7. ¶ And in the days of [c]Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the [d]text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated 9from Aramaic.
  8. [e]Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows—
  9. then wrote Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and 10the rest of their colleagues, the judges and 11the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites,
  10. and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable [f]Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the [g]River. 12Now
  11. this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him:
    ¶ “To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men in the region beyond the River, and now
  12. let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding 13the rebellious and evil city and 14are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.
  13. Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are finished, 15they will not pay tribute, custom or toll, and it will damage the revenue of the kings.
  14. Now because we [h]are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king,
  15. so that a search may be made in the record books of your fathers. And you will discover in the record books and learn that that city is a rebellious city and damaging to kings and provinces, and that they have incited revolt within it in past days; therefore that city was laid waste.
  16. We inform the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls finished, as a result you will have no possession in the province beyond the River.”
  17. Then the king sent an answer to Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the River: “Peace. And now
  18. the document which you sent to us has been [i]16translated and read before me.
  19. A decree has been [j]issued by me, and a search has been made and it has been discovered that that city has risen up against the kings in past days, that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it,
  20. 17that mighty kings have [k]ruled over Jerusalem, governing all the provinces 18beyond the River, and that 19tribute, custom and toll were paid to them.
  21. So, now issue a decree to make these men stop work, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me.
  22. Beware of being negligent in carrying out this matter; why should damage increase to the detriment of the kings?”
  23. ¶ Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force of arms.
  24. ¶ Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

FOOTNOTES

  1. ^ Lit weakened the hands of
  2. ^ Or Xerxes; Heb Ahash-verosh
  3. ^ Heb Artah-shashta
  4. ^ Lit writing
  5. ^ Ch 4:8-6:18 is in Aram
  6. ^ I.e. probably Ashurbanipal
  7. ^ I.e. Euphrates River, and so throughout the ch
  8. ^ Lit eat the salt
  9. ^ Lit plainly read before
  10. ^ Lit put forth
  11. ^ Lit been

REFERENCES

  1. ^ Ezr 4:7-10
  2. ^ Ezr 1:11
  3. ^ 2Ki 17:32
  4. ^ 2Ki 19:37
  5. ^ Ne 2:20
  6. ^ Ezr 1:1, 2
  7. ^ Ezr 3:3
  8. ^ Es 1:1; Da 9:1
  9. ^ 2Ki 18:26; Da 2:4
  10. ^ 2Ki 17:24
  11. ^ Ezr 5:6; 6:6
  12. ^ Ezr 4:11, 17; 7:12
  13. ^ 2Ch 36:13
  14. ^ Ezr 5:3, 9
  15. ^ Ezr 4:20; 7:24
  16. ^ Ne 8:8
  17. ^ 1Ki 4:21; 1Ch 18:3
  18. ^ Ge 15:18; Jos 1:4
  19. ^ Ezr 4:13; 7:24

Read Ezra Chapter 4 in other Bible versions:

Comments

  1. David yakubuDavid yakubu
    Oct 29, 2022 08:05 GMT

    When i do read some comments and seeing that its the same people that are supposed to be called believers but are talking ill of other denominations, it hurts. Let us all remember that We should judge not

    1. jonas smithjonas smith
      Apr 23, 2023 02:57 GMT

      The bible tells us to test the spirits. Satan disguises himself as angel of light. So yes some denomination are not teaching the truth. You are responsible for judging which ones are not. You have to judge the truth at all times. this is what the bible teaches

  2. THTH
    Apr 7, 2021 00:20 GMT

    The NWT is a very good translation. Dr. Jason David BeDuhn PhD attests to that in his book Truth in Translation. drive.google.com/...5p16melHzg8/view

    1. James LernerJames Lerner
      Jul 20, 2024 09:48 GMT

      The NWT is Satanic filth to its very core.

      The JW Cult is Satanic to its very core.

      Praise Yahweh I will never be a victim of JW brainwashing. If I burn in Hell for eternity or I am ultimately annihilated so be it

      May Yahweh's curse rest on the Watchtower Society and its Satanic leadership

    2. jim mcleodjim mcleod
      Aug 22, 2021 06:16 GMT

      NWT is a false translation that takes away from the deity of Jesus !

  3. SlightlyChaoticSlightlyChaotic
    Jan 30, 2021 16:33 GMT

    Thank you for taking the time to provide this service. I like seeing the NASB on your web page in the same format as I read on paper. On other sites, the text area is smaller, and so I have to keep scrolling down to read and sometimes I lose the context. So I really appreciate the format.

    As far as the NWT, you are certainly free to do whatever you think best with your own web pages. I'd suggest that you make a note anytime you have a translation that is associated with only one denomination or church, for example:
    New World Translation (Jehovah's Witness version).

    In Jesus' parable of the wheat and the tares. the main idea seems to be that you can't easily distinguish between God's people and not-God's people on this earth, so our Lord's response is to wait until they are shown to be the kind of people they are inside. But the NWT seems like false teaching to me. So I think the warning passages from Jesus' apostles are more applicable, as in 2 Peter 3:15-16, when he talks about Paul's writings:
    "There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures."
    And we also have the positive exhortations, as in 2 Timothy 2:15:
    "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."

    1. BroderickBroderick
      Jan 31, 2021 00:57 GMT

      Your suggestion regarding the denominational flagging is duly noted. But I can’t help but wonder, wouldn’t a Catholic also want “Protestant versions” marked as well?

      As for the parable, I’m pretty sure the slaves were convinced in their own minds that they could tell the tares from the wheat. After all, aren’t they the ones who identified the problem in the first place? But the master obviously thought otherwise.

      Furthermore, even at the time when Jesus himself was walking the earth, not everybody who claimed fellowship actually followed him causing John to inquire at Mark 9:39, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him . . . for he who is not against us is for us.”

  4. Joshua HarderJoshua Harder
    Dec 11, 2020 17:48 GMT

    Hello, question.. why have you included the NWT with other legitimate bible translations? Or why have you not atleast included a warning to readers? Don't you fear that someone could be influenced by the Watchtower's intentional heresies? Thank you.

    1. KevinKevin
      Jul 11, 2021 17:45 GMT

      en.m.wikipedia.org/..._Holy_Scriptures

      See the section critical review

    2. ChrisChris
      Jan 8, 2021 07:15 GMT

      Please site these intentional heresies. I am well versed in the watch tower outline and agree they are in many ways incorrect but i also bet i can point many out from EVERY established or main denomination. There is much to learn from them all as one who drinks milk?

      Judge not lest ye be judged, that is not to pass judgement on you either brother.

      I debate with scripture. I don't hold it to be true that Michael is Y'Shua HaMeshiach but I also firmly hold it to be true that our G-d and Heavenly Father are not the word encarnate and only begotten son.

      I love not seeing "lord" which i relate to baal. I feel the catholic church is a satanic establishment and I am aware a freemason started the hovies but there are evil in high places and our fight is also with principalities.

      What i'm saying is that in my darkest hours, those two were some of if not the only ones who would bring a Bible and eucharist and pray with me.

      We all fall short of the glory of G-d.

      Don't forget the NWT was recognized as the most accurate translation on Jeopardy.

      Lastly, this is different I noted than the NWT i have read and am very familiar with. Pull up the watchtower page and compare. I truly look forward to getting this one!

  5. julietjuliet
    Aug 17, 2022 09:36 GMT

    the sky is blue

  6. mercymercy
    Aug 12, 2022 21:23 GMT

    i am Mercy, the sky is blue what else do you need

    1. mercymercy
      Aug 12, 2022 21:25 GMT

      i am so sorry, it was a big mistake

  7. God is able to do all thingsGod is able to do all things
    May 17, 2021 17:59 GMT

    Jesus how much love calling yo name

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