With this money, therefore, you are to buy as many bulls, rams, and lambs as needed, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar at the house of your God in Jerusalem.
Parallel translations
- WEB therefore you shall with all diligence buy with this money bulls, rams, lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
- KJV That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
- NKJV now therefore, be careful to buy with this money bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.
- NASB with this money, therefore, you shall diligently buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
- NLT These donations are to be used specifically for the purchase of bulls, rams, male lambs, and the appropriate grain offerings and liquid offerings, all of which will be offered on the altar of the Temple of your God in Jerusalem.
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
Ezra is to use the funds to buy sacrifices and offerings and present them on God's altar in Jerusalem. The provision is directed toward restored worship.
Overview
The king specifies that the money buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain and drink offerings, for the altar of God's house. The decree thus ensures that worship, not merely the building, is funded and sustained. These continual sacrifices look ahead to Christ, whose single offering perfectly satisfies what they could only picture (Hebrews 10:1-4).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Deut 12:5–11Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
- Num 15:4–13then the one presenting his offering to the LORD shall also present a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter hin of olive oil.
- Ezra 6:9–10Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, as well as wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given to them daily without fail.
- Deut 14:24–26But if the distance is too great for you to carry that with which the LORD your God has blessed you, because the place where the LORD your God will choose to put His Name is too far away,
- Matt 21:12–13Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.
- John 2:14In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:17 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.