Bible Strands
Ezra 6:3
In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Cyrus issues a royal proclamation during his first regnal year regarding the Jerusalem temple. The order mandates the reconstruction of God's house as a designated site for sacrifices.
The words — בִּשְׁנַת חֲדָה (bi-shnat chadah) translates to "in the first year," establishing the precise chronological start of the project. שׂם טעם (sam ta'am) means "he made a decree," indicating a formal royal command.
The thread — The decree aligns with the fulfillment noted in 2 Chronicles 36:22 and anticipates the symmetrical measurements described in Revelation 21:16. It also operationalizes the command to establish God's chosen dwelling place from Deuteronomy 12:5.
Why it lands — The text specifies the temple's dimensions and directs that construction costs be drawn from the royal treasury. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine promises are executed through concrete historical authority and precise physical standards.
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
In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 36:22 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:
- Revelation 21:16 The city lies foursquare, with its width the same as its length. And he measured the city with the rod, and all its dimensions were equal—12,000 stadia in length and width and height.
- Deuteronomy 12:5 Instead, 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.
- 1 Kings 6:2 The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
- 2 Chronicles 2:6 But who is able to build a house for Him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain Him? Who then am I, that I should build a house for Him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before Him?
- 2 Chronicles 3:3 The foundation that Solomon laid for the house of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, according to the old standard.
- Ezra 5:13 In the first year of his reign, however, Cyrus king of Babylon issued a decree to rebuild this house of God.
- Psalms 122:4 where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
- Ezekiel 41:13 Then he measured the temple to be a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long.
- Deuteronomy 12:11 then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD.