Ezra 3:8–13; 5:1–2, 16; Haggai 1–2; Zechariah 4:9
When was the foundation laid?
Ezra 3 places the foundation in the second year after the return under Zerubbabel and Jeshua; Ezra 5:16 credits Sheshbazzar; Haggai and Zechariah tie Zerubbabel's foundation to 520 BC. The texts agree on the words but invite different chronologies.
Read Ezra 3:8–13; 5:1–2, 16; Haggai 1–2; Zechariah 4:9 in every edition
Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently
The family tree
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✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Oracle dated 520 BC
Haggai 2:18 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.
from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid
Darius' second year.
c. 520–518 BC
Zechariah 4:9 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it
Composed c. 5th–4th century BC (debated)
Original Ezra–Nehemiah
No original survives.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
אֱדַיִן שֵׁשְׁבַּצַּר דֵּךְ אֲתָא יְהַב אֻשַּׁיָּא דִּי־בֵית אֱלָהָא
then that Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God
Ezra 5:16 (Aramaic).
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation of the house of God… and since that time even until now hath it been in building
Ezra 5:16. Compare 3:8–10 (Zerubbabel and Jeshua).
What changed, and why
Harmonizing readings: Sheshbazzar began, Zerubbabel continued; or the two men are one. Critical readings: Ezra 3 places the events of 520 at the start, so that the whole work answers Cyrus' decree. The Hebrew yasad can mean "found" or "repair, restore," allowing more than one "founding."
What the evidence shows
- Ezra and Haggai–Zechariah date the foundation differently.
- Ezra 5:16 credits Sheshbazzar with the foundation.
Sources
- H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah (Word Biblical Commentary 16, 1985)
- J. Blenkinsopp, Ezra–Nehemiah (Old Testament Library, 1988)
Related lessons
- The Altar, the Foundation and Mixed Tears →In the seventh month the people gather "as one man" in Jerusalem. Jeshua and Zerubbabel build the altar on its old site, offerings resume, and Booths is kept. Masons and carpenters are paid; cedar comes by sea to Joppa. In the second year, the foundation is laid; priests blow trumpets and Levites sing "for he is good." Old men who had seen the first house weep aloud while others shout for joy.
- Haggai, Zechariah and an Imperial Inquiry →The prophets Haggai and Zechariah stir Zerubbabel and Jeshua to build again. Tattenai, governor of Across-the-River, comes asking who authorized the work and takes the builders' names, but does not stop them. His letter to Darius reports their answer: they are rebuilding the house built by a great king of Israel, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and authorized by Cyrus, who gave the vessels to Sheshbazzar. He asks the king to search the archives.