Bible Strands
Ezra 3:1
By the seventh month, the Israelites had settled in their towns, and the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text addresses the returned Israelites at the onset of the seventh month, immediately following their resettlement in their respective towns. They converge in Jerusalem just before Jeshua and Zerubbabel initiate altar reconstruction.
The words — וַ/יֵּאָסְפ֥וּ (va/i.ye.'a.se.Fu) literally means "and they gathered," paired with הַ/חֹ֣דֶשׁ הַ/שְּׁבִיעִ֔י (ha./Cho.desh ha./she.vi.'I), meaning "the seventh month."
The thread — The motif of unified assembly appears in Leviticus 23:24 regarding sacred convocations, Acts 4:32 describing believers as one in heart and soul, and 1 Corinthians 1:10 urging agreement among believers.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that covenant obedience requires coordinated physical gathering. It establishes that communal worship and reconstruction follow a deliberate, unified convergence rather than individual initiative.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
Cross-references
- Acts 4:32 The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned.
- Leviticus 23:24 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly announced by trumpet blasts.
- 1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be united in mind and conviction.
- Nehemiah 7:73 So the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and temple servants, along with some of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns. And by the seventh month the Israelites had settled in their towns.
- Exodus 23:14 Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.
- Leviticus 16:29 This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—
- Leviticus 23:27 “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You shall hold a sacred assembly and humble yourselves, and present a food offering to the LORD.
- Numbers 29:1 “On the first day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly, and you must not do any regular work. This will be a day for you to sound the trumpets.
- Judges 20:1 Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
- Nehemiah 8:14 And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month,