When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings to rebuild the house of God on its original site.
Parallel translations
- WEB Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they came to Yahweh’s house which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for God’s house to set it up in its place.
- KJV And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the LORD which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place:
- ESV Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site.
- NKJV Some of the heads of the fathers’ houses, when they came to the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God, to erect it in its place:
- NASB Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they arrived at the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to erect it on its site.
- NLT When they arrived at the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the family leaders made voluntary offerings toward the rebuilding of God’s Temple on its original site,
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Some family heads gave freely toward rebuilding God's house on its original site. Their willing generosity launched the restoration of worship.
Overview
Arriving at the ruined temple site, leaders responded not with despair but with freewill offerings. This echoes the willing giving for the tabernacle in Moses' day (Exodus 35:29) and models cheerful, voluntary devotion. Genuine worship overflows in glad sacrifice for God's purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 2 Cor 9:7Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.
- Exod 35:5–19Take from among you an offering to the LORD. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring an offering to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze;
- Exod 35:29So all the men and women of the Israelites whose hearts prompted them brought a freewill offering to the LORD for all the work that the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.
- Exod 36:3They received from Moses all the contributions that the Israelites had brought to carry out the service of constructing the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning,
- 2 Cor 8:3For I testify that they gave according to their ability and even beyond it. Of their own accord,
- 1 Chr 29:5–17for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now who will volunteer to consecrate himself to the LORD today?”
- Ps 110:3Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.
- 2 Chr 3:1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
- 2 Cor 8:12For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
- Num 7:3–89They brought as their offering before the LORD six covered carts and twelve oxen—an ox from each leader and a cart from every two leaders—and presented them before the tabernacle.
- Neh 7:70–73Some of the heads of the families contributed to the project. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 bowls, and 530 priestly garments.
- Luke 21:1–4Then Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury,
- 1 Chr 22:1Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God, as well as the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
- Ezra 3:3They set up the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD—both the morning and evening burnt offerings—even though they feared the people of the land.
- 1 Chr 21:18Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
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Christ at the center
The return from exile and the rebuilt altar keep alive the hope of a greater restoration — the true return from our deeper exile of sin accomplished by Christ.
How Ezra 2:68 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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