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Ezra 4

Ezra 4:5 KJV (With Strong’s)

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5

And hired counsellorsx against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

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Acts 24:1• ¹And after five days came down the high priest Ananias, with the elders, and a certain orator called Tertullus, and laid their informations against Paul before the governor. (Acts 24:1)

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Counselor,

Cyrus,

Darius,

King,

Persia; Persians

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Ministry on This Verse

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hired.

Psa. 2:1‑2• ¹Why are the nations in tumultuous agitation, and why do the peoples meditate a vain thing?
²The kings of the earth set themselves, and the princes plot together, against Jehovah and against his anointed: (Psa. 2:1‑2)

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Nah. 1:11• ¹¹Out of thee is gone forth one that imagineth evil against Jehovah, a wicked counsellor. (Nah. 1:11)

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Acts 24:1‑27• ¹And after five days came down the high priest Ananias, with the elders, and a certain orator called Tertullus, and laid their informations against Paul before the governor.
²And he having been called, Tertullus began to accuse, saying, Seeing we enjoy great peace through thee, and that excellent measures are executed for this nation by thy forethought,
³we receive it always and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness.
⁴But that I may not too much intrude on thy time, I beseech thee to hear us briefly in thy kindness.
⁵For finding this man a pest, and moving sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a leader of the sect of the Nazaraeans;
⁶who also attempted to profane the temple; whom we also had seized, and would have judged according to our law;
⁷but Lysias, the chiliarch, coming up, took him away with great force out of our hands,
⁸having commanded his accusers to come to thee; of whom thou canst thyself, in examining him, know the certainty of all these things of which we accuse him.
⁹And the Jews also joined in pressing the matter against Paul, saying that these things were so.
¹⁰But Paul, the governor having beckoned to him to speak, answered, Knowing that for many years thou hast been judge to this nation, I answer readily as to the things which concern myself.
¹¹As thou mayest know that there are not more than twelve days since I went up to worship at Jerusalem,
¹²and neither in the temple did they find me discoursing to any one, or making any tumultuous gathering together of the crowd, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city;
¹³neither can they make good the things of which they now accuse me.
¹⁴But this I avow to thee, that in the way which they call sect, so I serve my fathers' God, believing all things which are written throughout the law, and in the prophets;
¹⁵having hope towards God, which they themselves also receive, that there is to be a resurrection both of just and unjust.
¹⁶For this cause I also exercise myself to have in everything a conscience without offence towards God and men.
¹⁷And after a lapse of many years I arrived, bringing alms to my nation, and offerings.
¹⁸Whereupon they found me purified in the temple, with neither crowd nor tumult. But it was certain Jews from Asia,
¹⁹who ought to appear before thee and accuse, if they have anything against me;
²⁰or let these themselves say what wrong they found in me when I stood before the council,
²¹other than concerning this one voice which I cried standing amongst them: I am judged this day by you touching the resurrection of the dead.
²²And Felix, knowing accurately the things concerning the way, adjourned them, saying, When Lysias the chiliarch is come down I will determine your affair;
²³ordering the centurion to keep him, and that he should have freedom, and to hinder none of his friends to minister to him.
²⁴And after certain days, Felix having arrived with Drusilla his wife, who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
²⁵And as he reasoned concerning righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment about to come, Felix, being filled with fear, answered, Go for the present, and when I get an opportunity I will send for thee;
²⁶hoping at the same time that money would be given him by Paul: wherefore also he sent for him the oftener and communed with him.
²⁷But when two years were completed, Felix was relieved by Porcius Festus as his successor; and Felix, desirous to oblige the Jews, to acquire their favour, left Paul bound. (Acts 24:1‑27)

Darius.

Ezra 4:24• ²⁴Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4:24)

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Ezra 5:5‑17• ⁵But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease till the matter came to Darius; and then they returned answer by letter concerning it.
⁶The copy of the letter that Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shethar-boznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, who were on this side the river, sent to Darius the king.
⁷They sent a report to him in which was written thus: To Darius the king, all peace!
⁸Be it known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is being built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work is being carried on with diligence, and prospers in their hand.
⁹Then asked we those elders: thus we said to them, Who gave you orders to build this house and to complete this wall?
¹⁰We asked their names also, to inform thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them.
¹¹And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of the heavens and the earth, and build the house that was built these many years ago; and a great king of Israel built and completed it.
¹²But after that our fathers had provoked the God of the heavens to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, and he destroyed this house, and carried the people away unto Babylon.
¹³But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, king Cyrus gave orders to build this house of God.
¹⁴And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was at Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, those did king Cyrus take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one Sheshbazzar by name, whom he had appointed governor.
¹⁵And he said to him, Take these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that is at Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in its place.
¹⁶Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation of the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and since that time even until now has it been in building, and it is not completed.
¹⁷And now, if it seem good to the king, let search be made in the king's treasure-house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that orders were given by king Cyrus to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter. (Ezra 5:5‑17)

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Ezra 6:1‑18• ¹Then king Darius gave orders, 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 fortress that is in the province of Media a roll, and therein was a record thus written:
³In the first year of king Cyrus, king Cyrus made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem: Let the house be built for a place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be solidly laid; its height sixty cubits, its breadth sixty 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 out of the temple that is at Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought again to the temple that is at Jerusalem, in their place; and thou shalt put them in the house of God.
⁶Therefore Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who 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 its place.
⁸Moreover, I give orders what ye shall do to these elders of the Jews, for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, of the tribute beyond the river, expenses be diligently given to 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 to the God of the heavens, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests that are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail;
¹⁰that they may present sweet odours to the God of the heavens, and pray for the life of the king and of his sons.
¹¹Also I have given order that whosoever shall alter this rescript, 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 has caused his name to dwell there overthrow every king and people that shall put forth their hand to alter or to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have given this order; let it be done diligently.
¹³Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shethar-boznai, and their companions, because of that which king Darius had sent, did so diligently.
¹⁴And the elders of the Jews built; and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and completed 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 king Darius.
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 they presented at the dedication of this house of God a 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 classes, and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem: as it is written in the book of Moses. (Ezra 6:1‑18)

• (Hag. 1:2). Nevertheless, they had the written authority of the unalterable law of the Medes and Persians: “as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us”(Ezra 4:3; Dan. 6:8). Furthermore, even though this was a command of the king, they should have known by the prophecies of Isaiah that it was ordained of God (Isa. 44:28). The people should have rested on the Word of God, but their fear of their enemies was stronger than their faith. (“Adversaries- Ezra 4:1-24” by N. Simon)

J. N. Darby Translation

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and they hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.