OET interlinear EZRA 3:8

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-time-sequential

וּ⁠בַ⁠שָּׁנָ֣ה הַ⁠שֵּׁנִ֗ית לְ⁠בוֹאָ֞⁠ם

and,in/on/at/with,year the=second(fs) after,coming,their

The word Then at the beginning of this phrase indicates that the events the story will now relate came after the events it has just described. Alternate translation: “Then in the second year after they came”

Note 2 topic: translate-ordinal

וּ⁠בַ⁠שָּׁנָ֣ה הַ⁠שֵּׁנִ֗ית לְ⁠בוֹאָ֞⁠ם אֶל־בֵּ֤ית הָֽ⁠אֱלֹהִים֙ לִ⁠יר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם בַּ⁠חֹ֖דֶשׁ הַ⁠שֵּׁנִ֑י

and,in/on/at/with,year the=second(fs) after,coming,their to/towards house_of the=ʼElohīm at,Jerusalem in/on/at/with,month the=second

“Then in month two of year two after arriving at the house of God in Jerusalem” or “Then in the springtime of the second year since they came to the house of God in Jerusalem” or “Seven months after they had come to the house of God in Jerusalem”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

וּ⁠בַ⁠שָּׁנָ֣ה הַ⁠שֵּׁנִ֗ית לְ⁠בוֹאָ֞⁠ם אֶל־בֵּ֤ית הָֽ⁠אֱלֹהִים֙ לִ⁠יר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם

and,in/on/at/with,year the=second(fs) after,coming,their to/towards house_of the=ʼElohīm at,Jerusalem

At this time, there was no temple in Jerusalem. So this phrase means one of two things: (1) The book could be referring implicitly to the place where God’s temple belonged. It seems that the people thought of the temple site as God’s temple, even though it was in ruins. Alternate translation: “In the second year after they returned from exile to the site of God’s temple in Jerusalem.” or (2) The book could be referring implicitly to the purpose for which they came. Alternate translation: “In the second year after they returned to Jerusalem in order to build a temple there for God.”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

בֵּ֤ית הָֽ⁠אֱלֹהִים֙

house_of the=ʼElohīm

“the temple”

בַּ⁠חֹ֖דֶשׁ הַ⁠שֵּׁנִ֑י

in/on/at/with,month the=second

The book does not say explicitly why the Jewish leaders started the actual construction of the new temple at this time. One possibility is that once they had ordered the necessary materials, as 3:7 describes, it took seven months for enough materials to be delivered for construction to begin. Another possibility is that the leaders waited until spring because winter would have been a bad time to start building. Yet another possibility is that they wanted to lay the foundation of this new temple in the second month of the year for ceremonial reasons, because that was the month in which King Solomon had laid the foundation of the original temple. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could put these explanations in a footnote.

Note 5 topic: translate-names

זְרֻבָּבֶ֣ל בֶּן־שְׁ֠אַלְתִּיאֵל

Zərubāⱱel son_of Shəʼaltiy\sup_ʼēl

Zerubbabel is the name of a man, and Shealtiel is the name of his father. See how you translated these names in 3:2.

Note 6 topic: translate-names

וְ⁠יֵשׁ֨וּעַ בֶּן־יֽוֹצָדָ֜ק

and,Jeshua son_of Yōʦādāq/(Jozadak)

Jeshua is the name of a man, and Jozadak is the name of his father. See how you translated these names in 3:2.

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

וּ⁠שְׁאָ֥ר אֲחֵי⁠הֶ֣ם ׀ הַ⁠כֹּהֲנִ֣ים וְ⁠הַ⁠לְוִיִּ֗ם

and,rest_of brothers_of,their the,priests and,the,Levites

Here, brothers seems to be a figurative way of saying fellow leaders, since the priests and Levites were also leaders in the community like Zerubbabel, the governor, and Jeshua, the high priest. Alternate translation: “and their fellow leaders, the priests and Levites”

Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

וְ⁠כָל־הַ⁠בָּאִים֙ מֵ⁠הַ⁠שְּׁבִ֣י יְרֽוּשָׁלִַ֔ם

and=all the=(ones_who)_went from,the,captivity Yerushalayim

The abstract noun captivity refers to the way the Babylonians had transported many of the Jews away from their homeland when they conquered Jerusalem. (These included many of the parents or grandparents of the people here, but also some of these people themselves, as 3:12 indicates.) If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate the idea behind this term with an equivalent phrase. Alternate translation: “and the rest of the people who had returned to Jerusalem from where their enemies had taken them”

Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

הֵחֵ֡לּוּ

began

Here the book leaves out some of the words that a sentence would ordinarily need in order to be complete because they were understood by the original readers. If it would be helpful in your language, you could supply them from the context, or you could use a term such as “so” to indicate this. Alternate translation: “so they appointed”

Note 10 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

אֶת־הַ⁠לְוִיִּ֗ם מִ⁠בֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָ⁠מַ֔עְלָ⁠ה

DOM the,Levites from,son_of twenty year and,upward,

Here, son of 20 years and above is an idiom that indicates a person’s age. Alternate translation: “the Levites who were at least 20 years old”

Note 11 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

לְ⁠נַצֵּ֖חַ עַל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת בֵּית־יְהוָֽה

to,supervise on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in work_of house_of YHWH

In this context, the work of the house is an abbreviated way of referring to the project of constructing a temple. Alternate translation: “to supervise the construction of the temple for Yahweh”

Note 12 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

בֵּית־יְהוָֽה

house_of YHWH

See how you translated this expression in 1:3. Alternate translation: “the temple for Yahweh”