EZRA 4:4 Parallel View

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The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

4:4 Variant note: ו/מבלהים: (x-qere) ’וּֽ/מְבַהֲלִ֥ים’: lemma_c/926 morph_HC/Vprmpa id_15Atm וּֽ/מְבַהֲלִ֥ים

Key: yellow:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT And it happened that the people of the land were making the hands of the people of Judah weak, and making them afraid to build,

UST Then the people who had been living in that land before the Israelites returned there started doing things to make the Jews discouraged and afraid to continue building the temple.

BSB § Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build.

OEB No OEB EZRA book available

WEB Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building.

NET Then the local people began to discourage the people of Judah and to dishearten them from building.

LSV And it comes to pass, the people of the land are making the hands of the people of Judah feeble, and troubling them in building,

FBV Then the local people set out to intimidate the people of Judah and make them too scared to go on building.

T4T Then the people who had been living in that land before the Israelis returned tried to cause the Jews to become discouraged and become afraid, and to cause them to stop building the temple.

LEB Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah[fn] and made them afraid to build

?:? Literally “the hands of the people of Judah”

BBE Then the people of the land made the hands of the people of Judah feeble, troubling them with fear in their building;

MOF No MOF EZRA book available

JPS Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and harried them while they were building,

ASV Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

DRA Then the people of the land hindered the hands of the people of Juda, and troubled them in building.

YLT And it cometh to pass, the people of the land are making the hands of the people of Judah feeble, and troubling them in building,

DBY And the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building;

RV Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

WBS Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

KJB Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
(Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Yudahh, and troubled them in building, )

BB And it came to passe, that the folke of the lande discouraged the people of Iuda, & troubled them as they were building:
(And it came to passe, that the folke of the land discouraged the people of Yudah, and troubled them as they were building:)

GNV Wherefore the people of the land discouraged the people of Iudah, and troubled them in buylding,
(Wherefore the people of the land discouraged the people of Yudahh, and troubled them in buylding, )

CB Then the folke of the londe hyndered the people of Iuda, and made them afrayed to buylde,
(Then the folke of the land hyndered the people of Yudah, and made them afraid to buylde,)

WYC Forsothe it was doon, that the puple of the lond lettide the hondis of the puple of Juda, and trobliden hem in bildyng.
(Forsothe it was doon, that the people of the land lettide the hands of the people of Yudah, and trobliden them in bildyng.)

LUT Da hinderte das Volk im Lande die Hand des Volks Juda und schreckten sie ab im Bauen.
(So hinderte the people in_the land the Hand the peoples Yuda and schreckten they/she/them ab in_the Bauen.)

CLV Factum est igitur ut populus terræ impediret manus populi Judæ, et turbaret eos in ædificando.[fn]
(Factum it_is igitur as populus terræ impediret manus populi Yudæ, and turbaret them in ædificando.)

4.4 Populi Judæ. Populum Juda, id est confidentem et glorificantem, dicit eum qui integramente Domino ædificare, id est ad voluntatem ejus faciendam et gloriam quærendam omnium quos potest animos et ora convertere quærit.

4.4 Populi Yudæ. Populum Yuda, id it_is confidentem and glorificantem, dicit him who integramente Domino ædificare, id it_is to voluntatem his faciendam and gloriam quærendam omnium which potest animos and ora convertere quærit.

BRN And the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Juda, and hindered them in building,

BrLXX Καὶ ἦν ὁ λαὸς τῆς γῆς ἐκλύων τὰς χεῖρας τοῦ λαοῦ Ἰούδα, καὶ ἐνεπόδιζον αὐτοὺς οἰκοδομεῖν,
(Kai aʸn ho laos taʸs gaʸs ekluōn tas ⱪeiras tou laou Youda, kai enepodizon autous oikodomein, )

TTN Tyndale Theme Notes:

Purity and Identity

God is holy, and he made a covenant with Israel to establish a holy nation (Exod 19:4-6; Lev 19:2). Israel’s identity as God’s people required purity in worship and in social relationships. God knew that if his people mingled with their pagan neighbors, they would be drawn into their detestable worship practices (see Num 25:1-9). Their failure to maintain purity and their assimilation to the surrounding cultures ultimately led to their destruction and exile (2 Kgs 17:5-23).

When Ezra wrote to the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem, one of his main purposes was to remind them of their need to remain pure in their beliefs and commitments. After arriving in Jerusalem, Ezra found that the people had intermarried with pagan foreigners, even though doing so was not permitted in God’s law (see Deut 7:3-4; Josh 23:12-13). As a result, their identity as God’s holy nation was in danger of disintegrating once again (Ezra 9:1-2).

To impress on his readers the need for separation from these foreigners, Ezra recounts how those who first returned to Jerusalem refused to cooperate with the pagan people living around them (4:1-5). These people claimed to worship the same God, but they actually worshiped several gods in addition to Israel’s God. If the Jews had joined with these people, they soon would have compromised their beliefs and become ungodly, just as Israel had done before the Exile (see Exod 34:15-16; 1 Kgs 11:1-5; 2 Kgs 16:3). Those early leaders of the Jews in Judea understood the danger of accommodating these foreigners. They learned from their ancestors’ experience and refused to compromise the purity of their faith for the sake of peace. They carefully followed God’s instructions in everything they did (Ezra 3:2, 9; 6:18). If they were going to identify themselves as “the servants of the God of heaven and earth” (5:11), they would need to please and serve him and no other gods.

Believers today are identified as God’s holy people (1 Pet 2:9), a title that speaks of purity. Paul admonished the Corinthians to refrain from marrying unbelievers—for Christ and Satan have no fellowship (2 Cor 6:14-15). Righteousness and unrighteousness do not mix. The people of God must dissociate themselves from all behavior that defiles, instead clothing themselves with attitudes and actions that befit their holy status (Col 3:5-15).

Passages for Further Study

Gen 27:46–28:5; Exod 19:4-6; 34:15-16; Lev 19:2; Deut 7:3-4; Josh 23:12-13; 1 Kgs 11:1-5; Ezra 4:1-5; 5:11; 9:1–10:11; Mal 2:15; 1 Cor 6:15-20; 2 Cor 6:14-18; 2 Tim 2:21-22; 1 Pet 2:9-10

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-newevent

וַ⁠יְהִי֙

and=he/it_was

The phrase and it happened that introduces a new series of events in the story. Use a natural way in your language for introducing something new or different.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

עַם־הָ⁠אָ֔רֶץ

people the=earth/land

This expression refers to the non-Israelite people groups, listed in 4:9, whom the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal had brought to live in the area just north of Judah in the century before the Jews were taken away into exile themselves. When the Jews returned to their homeland, those foreign groups were still living nearby. Alternate translation: “the foreign people groups living nearby”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

וַ⁠יְהִי֙ & מְרַפִּ֖ים יְדֵ֣י עַם־יְהוּדָ֑ה וּֽמְבַהֲלִ֥ים אוֹתָ֖⁠ם לִ⁠בְנֽוֹת

and=he/it_was & ones_discouraging hands_of people Yehuda (Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_was people the=earth/land ones_discouraging hands_of people Yehuda and,made_~_afraid DOM,them to,build )

These two phrases mean similar things. If it would be helpful in your language, you could combine them. Alternate translation: “making the people of Judah so intimidated that they stopped working on the temple” However, there is a slight distinction between the phrases. The first one describes how the people felt inwardly, and the second one explains what effect this had on their outward actions. So you could also translate the phrases separately. Alternate translation: “were intimidating the people of Judah so that they were afraid to keep working on the temple”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

וַ⁠יְהִי֙ & מְרַפִּ֖ים יְדֵ֣י עַם־יְהוּדָ֑ה

and=he/it_was & ones_discouraging hands_of people Yehuda

Here, hands represents power and action, so making the hands weak means to make someone so discouraged or intimidated that they do not use their power to act. Alternate translation: “were intimidating the people of Judah”

עַם־יְהוּדָ֑ה

people people Yehuda

In this context, this expression does not refer to all of the inhabitants of the province of Judah, whatever their nationality, but rather it specifically refers to the Jews who returned from exile and settled there. In this book, the people of Judah and “the people of Israel” both refer to the Jewish people and mean the same thing. Alternate translation: “the Jews who had returned from exile and settled in the province of Judah”

Parallel EZRA 4:4