Chapter Seven

1–3. Assistance from the governor of Syria in building the temple. 4–9. Dedication of the temple. 10–15. Celebration of Passover.

1 Esdras 7:1. Then Sisinnis, governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes and their associates, following the command of King Darius, 1. Chapter VII presents an account of 1 Esdras 6:13–22.

1 Esdras 7:2. eagerly undertook the holy work, helping the elders and priests of Judea. 1 Esdras 7:3. And the holy work progressed well, under the prophecies of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. 1 Esdras 7:4. And they accomplished all things according to the command of the Lord, God of Israel, and according to the will of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. 1 Esdras 7:5. The holy house was completed on the twenty-third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of King Darius. 5. In 1 Esdras 6:15 the completion of the temple is placed on the 3rd day of the month of Adar.

1 Esdras 7:6. And the sons of Israel, the priests and Levites and the rest who had returned from captivity, those who had been set over the work, did everything according to what was written in the book of Moses. 1 Esdras 7:7. And they offered as sacrifices for the dedication of the Lord’s house one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, 1 Esdras 7:8. twelve goats for the sins of all Israel, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. 8. The Greek text in the first half of the verse is unclear; in the Russian text the translation is free.

1 Esdras 7:9. And the priests and Levites stood by their divisions, in their vestments, doing the work of the Lord God of Israel, according to the book of Moses, and the gatekeepers at each gate. 9. Verse 9 differs from the parallel account in 1 Esdras 6:16.

1 Esdras 7:10. And those who had returned from captivity, the sons of Israel, celebrated Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, when the priests and Levites had been purified together, 1 Esdras 7:11. and all the sons of the captivity, because they were purified, for all the Levites together were purified. 11. The thought of the verse is unclear. It is possible that the text is corrupted. The words “because they were purified” (ότι ήγνίσόθησαν) are absent in manuscripts 58, 71; and the words “for the Levites all together were purified” (ότι οί λευίται άμα πάντες ήγνίσθησαν) are also absent in manuscripts 52, 64, 74, 106, 119, 120, 121, 134, 276, 278. Thus, from verse 11 only the words “and all the sons of the captivity” remain, which could easily be joined with verse 10. In the Syriac, old Latin, Vulgate, and manuscripts 55, 19, 108, instead of ότι ήγνίσθησαν (because they were purified), one reads ούχ ήγνισθ, “they were not purified.”

1 Esdras 7:12. And they slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the sons of the captivity, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 1 Esdras 7:13. And the sons of Israel, those who had returned from captivity, everyone who had separated himself from the abominations of the peoples of the land and sought the Lord, 1 Esdras 7:14. and they celebrated the feast of unleavened bread for seven days, rejoicing before the Lord, 1 Esdras 7:15. because He turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the Lord God of Israel. 15. The king of Assyria, that is, Darius, who ruled over the territory of the Assyrian kingdom memorable to the Jews. Justin the Martyr, in his conversation with the Jew Trypho, cites, among other things, the following passage from the book of Ezra, as if deliberately omitted by the Jews: “And Ezra said to the people: This Passover is our Savior and our refuge. And if you consider and it enters into our heart, what we should humble Him upon a sign, and afterward we shall hope on Him, then this place will not be laid waste forever, said the God of hosts; but if you do not believe in Him and do not obey His preaching, you will become a laughingstock to the peoples” (chapter 72 according to Preobrazhenskii’s translation). If the words cited by Justin were ever in the text of the book of Ezra, they probably were found in 1 Esd 7. However, it is certain that these words could have been inserted only by some Christian copyist. Undoubtedly they are not authentic, both because they are in no manuscript of 2 Esdras and in Josephus, and because they contradict known facts: Ezra could not have participated in the Passover described in Ezra 6 and 1 Esd 7, since it took place before his arrival.