Ezra 3:1–7, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Ezra 3:1–7
The altar is rebuilt before the temple
Seventh-month unity around an altar in the open
When the seventh month arrives, the people gather as one man in Jerusalem. Jeshua and Zerubbabel build the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings as written in the law of Moses, because fear is on them from the peoples of the lands. They restore sacrifice before they restore walls or a house. Worship under threat comes first.
Booths, daily fire, and hired cedar
They keep the Feast of Booths, the daily offering, new moons, and the dedicated feasts, then give money to masons and carpenters and food, drink, and oil to Sidon and Tyre for cedar from Lebanon by Cyrus's grant. The altar is Torah-shaped; the timber is still a Persian-era trade. Early faithfulness is not waiting for ideal conditions. It is fire on stones plus invoices for wood.
How this should shape us
When the full structure is missing, do the next commanded act you actually can. Fear of neighbors is not an excuse to delay the first obedience, and buying what you cannot grow is not a spiritual failure.
Teach it back
Explain Ezra 3:1–7 in your own words. Include the movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, and one misuse the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The precise altar remains, dates, and historical sequence are discussed, but the literary order—assembly, altar, worship, materials, foundation—is explicit.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Ezra 3:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic wording, morphology, names, clause relations, and translation controls.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezra.xml, Hebrew and Aramaic words and morphology for 3:1–7
Supports: Material lexical, grammatical, textual, Persian-period, numerical, and translation notes within the unit.
NET Bible Ezra PDF, printed pp. 751–752, translation and translator notes on 3:1–7
Supports: Directly inspected commentary on literary shape, documents, chronology, Persian administration, temple, identity, and family reform.
Smith-Christopher, Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 312–313 on Ezra 3:1–7
Supports: Specialist Achaemenid-period historical context with explicit reconstruction limits.
Fried, Encyclopaedia Iranica, web paragraphs 12–25 on Cyrus, vessels, governors, and Yehud
Supports: Persian Yehud, genealogy, law, temple allegiance, identity markers, holy seed, women, land, and boundary construction.
Lai dissertation, printed pp. 46–120, 172–194, and 226–254
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Ezra 3:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew aramaic text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ezra
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic wording, morphology, names, clause relations, and translation controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezra.xml, Hebrew and Aramaic words and morphology for 3:1–7
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Ezra with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Material lexical, grammatical, textual, Persian-period, numerical, and translation notes within the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible Ezra PDF, printed pp. 751–752, translation and translator notes on 3:1–7
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Ezra-Nehemiah
Daniel L. Smith-Christopher
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Directly inspected commentary on literary shape, documents, chronology, Persian administration, temple, identity, and family reform.
Exact location: Smith-Christopher, Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 312–313 on Ezra 3:1–7
Open source ↗specialist historical encyclopedia article
Judeo-Persian Communities ii. Achaemenid Period
Lisbeth S. Fried
Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2009
Supports: Specialist Achaemenid-period historical context with explicit reconstruction limits.
Exact location: Fried, Encyclopaedia Iranica, web paragraphs 12–25 on Cyrus, vessels, governors, and Yehud
Open source ↗doctoral dissertation
Re-conceiving Seed, Re-defining Foreignness: Markers of Judean Identity in Ezra-Nehemiah and Trito-Isaiah
Hung-Chuan Lai
Union Presbyterian Seminary, 2014
Supports: Persian Yehud, genealogy, law, temple allegiance, identity markers, holy seed, women, land, and boundary construction.
Exact location: Lai dissertation, printed pp. 46–120, 172–194, and 226–254
Open source ↗