Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Ezra 6:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse records Cyrus's temple decree with dimensions and strong foundations
Read It With
- Ezra 6:1–5
Read Ezra 6:1–5 together. This verse records Cyrus's temple decree with dimensions and strong foundations Read Ezra 6:1–5 as one complete Ezra thought unit: Darius orders a search, and a memorandum found at Ecbatana records Cyrus's authorization for Jerusalem's temple, dimensions, funding, and return of vessels to the temple.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The memorandum provides the legal basis for a new royal order while preserving source differences that complicate simple harmonization. Within that movement, this verse records Cyrus's temple decree with dimensions and strong foundations
Read Ezra 6:1–5 together
Why these verses belong together: Darius's search order, Babylon search, Ecbatana discovery, memorandum heading, temple specifications, royal funding, and vessel return form the recovered record; verse 6 begins Darius's new command.
Verse 1. 1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.
Verse 2. 2 And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written:
Verse 3. 3 In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;
Verse 4. 4 With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house:
Verse 5. 5 And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.
Follow the Context
- Darius orders a search in Babylonian archives.
- A scroll is found in the Ecbatana palace and identified as a memorandum.
- The record authorizes temple rebuilding, specifies construction and royal cost, and directs return of temple vessels.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Ezra 6:3 does not authorize a conclusion that exceeds Ezra 6:1–5. The unit's explicit boundary is: The memorandum is not identical in wording or function to Ezra 1's proclamation.
What Remains True
Within Ezra's own literary movement, Ezra 6:3 records Cyrus's temple decree with dimensions and strong foundations.
How It Can Shape Life
- Preserve records across offices, search alternate repositories, and compare documents rather than forcing them into one supposed transcript. Ezra 6:3 especially directs attention to how this verse records Cyrus's temple decree with dimensions and strong foundations.
Teach It Back
Explain Ezra 6:3's precise role in Ezra 6:1–5. Include its Persian-period, temple, Torah, identity, administrative, or family context as relevant, one material uncertainty, and one conclusion it does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Ezra 6:1–5 — A Cyrus memorandum is found at EcbatanaSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The decree's large dimensions and relation to the built temple remain debated.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 6:1–5, 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 6:1–5
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. 755–756, translation and translator notes on 6:1–5
Open source ↗