Bible Strands
Ezra 7:27
Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put into the heart of the king to so honor the house of the LORD in Jerusalem,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Ezra addresses his fellow exiles and the returning community immediately after receiving royal decrees and resources from King Artaxerxes for the Jerusalem temple project. He speaks at the mission's launch to frame the king's compliance as divine provision.
The words — The Hebrew בָּרוּךְ (barukh) issues a declarative blessing, and נָתַן (natan) records God's direct action of placing a motive into the king's mind. The text states God initiated the king's favorable policy, while interpreters recognize this phrasing as a pattern of divine sovereignty over earthly rulers.
The thread — This theme of God directing royal hearts appears in Ezra 6:22, where the Lord turns the king's heart to joy and completion of the temple, and Revelation 17:17, where God puts it into the kings' hearts to execute His purpose through the beast. Isaiah 60:13 also connects divine orchestration with the adornment of the sanctuary.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to acknowledge that political favor and institutional support for God's work originate from divine initiative, not human merit. It calls for immediate obedience and courage in gathering resources for restoration, as Ezra does in the following verse.
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
Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem:
Cross-references
- Ezra 6:22 For seven days they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands in the work on the house of the God of Israel.
- Revelation 17:17 For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose by uniting to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.
- Isaiah 60:13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you—its cypress, elm, and boxwood together—to adorn the place of My sanctuary, and I will glorify the place of My feet.
- Nehemiah 2:8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house I will occupy.” And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.
- Nehemiah 2:12 I set out at night with a few men. I did not tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with me was the one on which I was riding.
- 2 Corinthians 8:16 But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you.
- Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”
- James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
- 1 Chronicles 29:10 Then David blessed the LORD in the sight of all the assembly and said: “May You be blessed, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
- Philippians 4:10 Now I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.