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.
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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 that drink offerings may be made to the Most High God for the king and for his children, and that they may pray for their lives.” 32 He commanded that whoever should transgress, yes, or neglect anything written here, a beam shall be taken out of his own house, and he shall be hanged on it, and all his goods seized for the king. 33 “Therefore may the Lord, whose name is called upon there, utterly destroy every king and nation that stretches out his hand to hinder or damage that house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
LXX Ezra 6:11
Septuagint
11 And a decree has been made by me, that every man who shall alter this word, timber shall be pulled down from his house, and let him be lifted up and killed upon it, and his house shall be made over to me. 12 And may the God whose name dwells there, overthrow every king and people who shall stretch out his hand to alter or destroy the house of God which is in Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be diligently attended to.
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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.
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