Every three layers of specially prepared stones will be topped by a layer of timber. All expenses will be paid by the royal treasury.
Parallel translations
- WEB with three courses of great stones and a course of new timber. Let the expenses be given out of the king’s house.
- KJV With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house:
- BSB with three layers of cut stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid from the royal treasury.
- NKJV with three rows of heavy stones and one row of new timber. Let the expenses be paid from the king’s treasury.
- NASB with three layers of large stones and one layer of timber. And the cost is to be paid from the royal treasury.
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
The decree specified building materials and that costs be paid from the royal treasury. The king himself was to fund God's house.
Overview
Cyrus had ordered the temple built with great stones and timber, with expenses covered by the crown. This royal funding showed extraordinary favor toward God's people. That a pagan king would pay for the Lord's house testifies to God's sovereign rule over rulers and nations.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Kgs 6:36He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams.
- Ps 68:29Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bring presents to you.
- Isa 60:6–10A multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the praises of Yahweh.
- Isa 49:23Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”
- Ezra 7:20–23Whatever more will be needed for the house of your God, which you may have occasion to give, give it out of the king’s treasure house.
- Rev 12:16The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth.
- Ps 72:10The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
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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 6:4 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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