Texts in Conversation
In Ezra, Darius orders that anyone who changes his decree be impaled and his house made a rubbish heap. 1 Esdras has his property forfeited to the king instead, and the Greek Septuagint translation of Ezra also makes his house the king's possession.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Ezra 6:11
Hebrew Bible
11 “I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled on it, and his house is to be reduced to a rubbish heap for this indiscretion. 12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation who reaches out to cause such change so as to destroy this temple of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given orders. Let them be carried out with precision!”
1 Esdras 6:32
Esdras A, 3 Esdras
Deuterocanon
31 in order that libations may be made to the Most High God for the king and his children, and prayers be offered for their life.” 32 And he commanded that if any should transgress or nullify any of the things herein written, a beam should be taken out of his house and he should be hanged upon it, and his property should be forfeited to the king. 33 “Therefore may the Lord, whose name is there called upon, destroy every king and nation that shall stretch out their hands to hinder or damage that house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
LXX Ezra 6:11
Septuagint
11 And from me a decision was established that any person who changes this word, and a timber shall be pulled down from his house, and he shall be lifted up to be struck upon it, and his house shall be made my possession. 12 And the God whose name encamps there will overthrow any king and people who stretch out their hand to change or to remove the house of God that is in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given a decision; it shall be done carefully.”
Search:
Notes and References
“... 1 Esdras 6–7 parallel the text of Ezra 5:1–6:22, with minor differences that suggest an underlying Aramaic text somewhat variant from the MT. For example, 1 Esdras 6:23 (//Ezra 6:3) for the difficult MT “where sacrifices are offered and its foundations laid” (or something similar) has “where offerings of fire are offered.” Interestingly, the LXX text of Ezra also has only “where the sacrifices are offered.” This suggests that both Greek texts had an Aramaic text that lacked part of the sentence found in the MT. Similarly, both 1 Esdras 6:31 and the LXX of Ezra 6:11 speak of the miscreant’s having his property confiscated (rather than being turned into a dung heap as the MT does). ...”
Grabbe, Lester L.
"1 Esdras (Greek Ezra)" in Oegema, Gerbern S. (ed.) 1 Esdras (Greek Ezra), in The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha
(p. 110) Oxford University Press, 2021
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,