Ezra 1:5

The Return of the Jews under Sheshbazzar: a brief summary of events

5. the chief of the fathers R.V. the heads of fathers" houses. Literally rendered, the term would be -the heads of the fathers". Cf. the Latin -principes patrum". See Exodus 6:14. For the subdivision into (1) tribe, (2) family, (3) household, compare especially Joshua 7:16-18.

with all them R.V. even all. The construction in the original is peculiar. The preposition -to" or -for" stands before -all", and the relative is omitted. The A.V. takes the clause to briefly summarize -the rest" (i.e. the supplementary list of them) who, not being classed under (a) the heads of fathers" houses of Judah and Benjamin, (b) priests, (c) Levites, formed a fourth division of the people. By comparison with other passages such as 1 Chronicles 13:1-2; 2 Chronicles 5:12, where the same or a similar construction in the original is found, we see that the R.V. is correct. The preposition does not supplement, it defines. All included under the threegroups mentioned in the verse, -rose up". The whole community is summed up under these three heads, cf. Ezra 6:16; Ezra 6:20.

whose spirit God had raised R.V. had stirred up. The same phrase as in Ezra 1:1; Ezra 1:5 follows as the direct result of Ezra 1:1. It is important therefore that the same words should be used to translate the same phrase.

-God" here is -ha-Elohim", theGod = Jahveh of Ezra 1:1 who also stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. The wonder of the Return is shown to be wholly due to Divine overruling. The will of the sovereign to proclaim the decree and the will of the subject to avail himself of it are alike controlled by Him.

to go up to build Observe the punctuation. In the A.V. these words are by the punctuation connected with the main verb -rose up". The R.V. connects the words with the last clause alone, and thus (a) avoids collocation of -rose up" with to -go up"; (b) divides the verse into two balanced sentences, the general statement and its closer definition.