Ezra 5:11
New International Version
This is the answer they gave us: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished.

New Living Translation
“This was their answer: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the Temple that was built here many years ago by a great king of Israel.

English Standard Version
And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

Berean Standard Bible
And this is the answer they returned: “We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

King James Bible
And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up.

New King James Version
And thus they returned us an answer, saying: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

New American Standard Bible
So they answered us as follows, saying, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

NASB 1995
“Thus they answered us, saying, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

NASB 1977
“And thus they answered us, saying, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

Legacy Standard Bible
Thus they responded with a word to us, saying, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

Amplified Bible
They replied, ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are rebuilding the temple which was erected many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

Christian Standard Bible
This is the reply they gave us: We are the servants of the God of the heavens and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
This is the reply they gave us: We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

American Standard Version
And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and finished.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And thus an answer was returned and they were saying to us: “We are the Servants of the God of Heaven and Earth, and the building of this house that we are building was built many years before of the Kings of Israel, and their Princes finished it.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they answered us thus, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the house which had been built many years before this, and a great king of Israel built it, and established it for them.

Contemporary English Version
They claimed to be servants of the God who rules heaven and earth. And they said they were rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago by one of Israel's greatest kings.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they answered us in these words, saying: We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building a temple that was built these many years ago, and which a great king of Israel built and set up.

English Revised Version
And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and finished.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
This was their reply to us: "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple that was originally built many years ago by a great king of Israel.

Good News Translation
"They answered, 'We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the Temple which was originally built and equipped many years ago by a powerful king of Israel.

International Standard Version
In answer they responded, "We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are rebuilding the Temple that was built many years ago by a great king of Israel.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And thus they returned us answer, saying: We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and finished.

Literal Standard Version
And thus they have returned us word, saying, We [are] servants of the God of the heavens and earth, and are building the house that was built many years before this, that a great king of Israel built and finished:

Majority Standard Bible
And this is the answer they returned: “We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

New American Bible
This was their answer to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house built here many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

NET Bible
They responded to us in the following way: 'We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king of Israel built it and completed it.

New Revised Standard Version
This was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

New Heart English Bible
Thus they returned us answer, saying, "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

Webster's Bible Translation
And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was erected these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and set up.

World English Bible
Thus they returned us answer, saying, “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

Young's Literal Translation
And thus they have returned us word, saying, We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was built many years before this, that a great king of Israel built and finished:

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Tattenai's Letter to Darius
10We also asked for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information. 11And this is the answer they returned: “We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed. 12But since our fathers angered the God of heaven, He delivered them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean who destroyed this temple and carried away the people to Babylon.…

Cross References
1 Kings 6:1
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD.

1 Kings 6:38
In his eleventh year and eighth month, the month of Bul, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.

Ezra 5:10
We also asked for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

Psalm 136:26
Give thanks to the God of heaven! His loving devotion endures forever.


Treasury of Scripture

And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and set up.

We are

Joshua 24:15
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Psalm 119:46
I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.

Daniel 3:26
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.

which a great

1 Kings 6:1-7:51
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD…

2 Chronicles 3:1-5:14
Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite…

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Ezra 5
1. Zerubbabel and Jeshua, incited by Haggai and Zechariah, set forward to building
3. Tattenai and Shethar-Bozenai are not able to hinder the Jews
6. Their letter to Darius against the Jews














(11) And thus they returned us answer.--The elders of the Jews take the Syrian satrap into their confidence, and give, in a few most pathetic words the record of their national honour, their national infidelity, and their national humiliation. Every word is true to the history, while the whole exhibits their deep humility and holy resolution.

Verse 11. - We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. Instead of doing as they were requested, and giving in a long list of names and titles of office, the elders merge their individuality in this general phrase; as though they would say, "As individuals, we are nothing; as men of mark in our nation, we are nothing; what we do, we do simply as servants of God, directed by him (Haggai 1:8), bound to obey him, answerable only to him for our conduct." They speak of God as "the God of heaven and earth" - a very rare title - partly in humble acknowledgment of his universal and absolute dominion, as Christians speak when they call God "the Maker of heaven and earth;" partly to impress favourably those to whom they speak, persons accustomed to regard God primarily as the Being who "gave mankind earth and heaven" (Rawlinson's 'Cuneiform Inscriptions of Persia,' vol. 1. pp. 285, 291, 319, 324, etc.). And build. That is "rebuild." The house that was builded these many years ago. The old house, begun more than 400, finished nearly 400 years previously, and only just beginning to rise again from its ruins, after lying waste for nearly seventy years. Which a great king of Israel builded and set up. Solomon, the greatest of the Jewish monarchs, if we consider the extent and prosperity of his kingdom, and the position that it occupied among the other kingdoms of the earth - a "great king" under whatever aspect we view him, though one who sowed the seeds of that corruption which ultimately sapped the national life, and provoked God to bring the monarchy to an end.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
And this
וּכְנֵ֥מָא (ū·ḵə·nê·mā)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb
Strong's 3660: Accordingly, as follows

is the answer
פִתְגָמָ֖א (p̄iṯ·ḡā·mā)
Noun - masculine singular determinate
Strong's 6600: A word, answer, letter, decree

they returned:
הֲתִיב֣וּנָא (hă·ṯî·ḇū·nā)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person masculine plural | first person common plural
Strong's 8421: To return

“We
אֲנַ֣חְנָא (’ă·naḥ·nā)
Pronoun - first person common plural
Strong's 586: We

are
הִמּ֡וֹ (him·mōw)
Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1994: They

servants
עַבְדוֹהִי֩ (‘aḇ·ḏō·w·hî)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5649: Slave, servant

of the God
אֱלָ֨הּ (’ĕ·lāh)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 426: God

of heaven
שְׁמַיָּ֜א (šə·may·yā)
Noun - masculine plural determinate
Strong's 8065: The sky

and earth,
וְאַרְעָ֗א (wə·’ar·‘ā)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular determinate
Strong's 772: The earth, low

and we are rebuilding
וּבָנַ֤יִן (ū·ḇā·na·yin)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 1124: To build

the temple
בַּיְתָא֙ (bay·ṯā)
Noun - masculine singular determinate
Strong's 1005: A house

that
דִֽי־ (ḏî-)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 1768: Who, which, that, because

was
הֲוָ֨א (hă·wā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1934: To become, come to pass, be

built
בְנֵ֜ה (ḇə·nêh)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 1124: To build

many
שַׂגִּיאָ֔ן (śag·gî·’ān)
Adjective - feminine plural
Strong's 7690: Great, much

years
שְׁנִ֣ין (šə·nîn)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 8140: A year

ago,
מִקַּדְמַ֤ת (miq·qaḏ·maṯ)
Preposition-m | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 6928: Former time

which a great
רַ֔ב (raḇ)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7229: Abundant

king
וּמֶ֤לֶךְ (ū·me·leḵ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4430: A king

of Israel
לְיִשְׂרָאֵל֙ (lə·yiś·rā·’êl)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3479: Israel -- descendant of Jacob

built
בְּנָ֖הִי (bə·nā·hî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1124: To build

and completed.
וְשַׁכְלְלֵֽהּ׃ (wə·šaḵ·lə·lêh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3635: To complete


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OT History: Ezra 5:11 Thus they returned us answer saying We (Ezr. Ez)
Ezra 5:10
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