Ezra 5:4

Study note

Setting — Tattenai the governor, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates direct this question to the Jewish workers immediately after demanding to know who authorized the temple reconstruction (Ezra 5:3).

The words — The Aramaic phrase מַן שְׁמָהָת (man she.ma.Hat) literally renders “what [are] the names of,” isolating the specific identities of the laborers.

The thread — This verse advances the immediate narrative sequence of Persian administrative scrutiny that opens in Ezra 5:3 and concludes in Ezra 5:5, where the project continues only after the authorities await royal documentation.

Why it lands — It requires the reader to recognize that religious restoration operates within political boundaries, where public works demand verifiable authorization before proceeding.

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.