Ezra 4:3
But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the family leaders of Israel replied, “You can't share with us in building a Temple for our God. Only we can build it for the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what Cyrus the king of Persia has ordered us to do.”
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2 Chronicles 36:22In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, to fulfill the Lord's prophecy given through Jeremiah, the Lord encouraged Cyrus, king of Persia, to issue a proclamation throughout his kingdom and also to put it in writing, saying,
Ezra 1:3Anyone among you who belongs to his people can go to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. May your God be with you.
Nehemiah 2:20But I replied, telling them, “The God of heaven, he will make sure we're successful. We, his servants, will begin rebuilding, but Jerusalem doesn't belong to you, and you have no authority over it or claim to it.”
Isaiah 45:4I call you by name and I have given you a title of honor, for the sake of Jacob my servant, and Israel the one I chose, even though you don't know me.
John 4:22You really don't know the God you're worshiping, while we worship the God we know, for salvation comes from the Jews.
Romans 9:4They are my fellow-Israelites, God's chosen people. God revealed to them his glory and made agreements with them, giving them the law, true worship, and his promises.
Matthew Henry on Ezra 4:2-6
Opposition Made to the Jews. ( b. c. 535.) 1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; 2 Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. 3 But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them,… Read the whole commentary →