Bible Strands
Ezra 3:12
But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple. Still, many others shouted joyfully.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The assembled community witnesses the laying of the second temple’s foundation. Older priests, Levites, and family heads who remember the first temple weep, while others present shout joyfully.
The words — וְ/רַבִּ֡ים (ve./ra.Bim) translates literally as "and many," designating the large group of older priests, Levites, and family heads. רָא֜וּ (ra.'U) means "they had seen," specifying that their weeping stems from prior firsthand experience of the first temple.
The thread — This tension between grief over past glory and joy in new beginnings echoes Haggai 2:3, where elders question the diminished appearance of the rebuilt house, and Psalm 126:6, which contrasts weeping with eventual shouts of joy. The narrative also aligns with Job 8:7’s pattern of modest beginnings leading to flourishing.
Why it lands — The text records a simultaneous outpouring of loud weeping and joyful shouting at a sacred construction milestone. It requires the reader to acknowledge that sacred progress often produces conflicting emotional responses without resolving which response holds ultimate priority.
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
But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:
Cross-references
- Haggai 2:3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not appear to you like nothing in comparison?’
- Job 8:7 Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish.
- Psalms 126:6 He who goes out weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.
- Isaiah 60:22 The least of you will become a thousand, and the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will accomplish it quickly.
- Jeremiah 31:8 Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, including the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor. They will return as a great assembly!
- Daniel 2:34 As you watched, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.
- Zechariah 4:10 For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
- Matthew 13:31 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his field.
- Isaiah 41:14 Do not fear, O Jacob, you worm, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.