Ezra 5:13

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree to build this house of God.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

2 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible

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Word by word

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בְּרַם֙

bᵉram

H1297

“but”

Adjective, C

Appears 5× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: perhaps from H7313 with a prepositional prefix

TWOT: 2642

only, nevertheless, but

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

15: words
13: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is בְּרַם֙ but H1297 — appearing just 5 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

בְּרַם֙ but H1297
לְכ֥וֹרֶשׁ Cyrus H3567

Shared distinctive vocabulary

בְּרַם֙ but H1297 occurs in 5 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
2 nouns
9 adjectives
3 particles

Verb forms

לִבְּנֵֽא Qal · Infinitive Construct

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

לְכ֥וֹרֶשׁ Cyrus H3567 ×2
מַלְכָּ֖א king H4430 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 22 words from the Hebrew and 22 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 15 Hebrew tokens and 18 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezra 5:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Ezra 1:1–8 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and [put it] also in writing, saying,
Ezra 6:3–5 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be built, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let the foundations of it be strongly laid; the height of it sixty cubits, and the breadth of it sixty cubits;
Isaiah 44:28–45:1 Who says of Cyrus, [He is] my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of the temple, Your foundation shall be laid.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezra 5:13 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

בְּרַם֙ בִּשְׁנַ֣ת חֲדָ֔ה לְכ֥וֹרֶשׁ מַלְכָּ֖א דִּ֣י בָבֶ֑ל כּ֤וֹרֶשׁ מַלְכָּא֙ שָׂ֣ם טְעֵ֔ם בֵּית אֱלָהָ֥א דְנָ֖ה לִבְּנֵֽא

But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree to build this house of God.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezra 5:13 Septuagint · lemma form

ἀλλά ἐν ἔτος πρῶτος κῦρος ὁ βασιλεύς κῦρος ὁ βασιλεύς τίθημι γνώμη ὁ οἶκος ὁ θεός οὗτος οἰκοδομέω

And in the first year of king Cyrus, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be built.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

In the Septuagint this is one book — Esdras B (2 Esdras): Ezra is chapters 1–10, Nehemiah 11–23.

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Ezra 5:13 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Ezr 5:13 But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon [the same] king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.

Ver. 13. But in the first year of Cyrus] {See Trapp on "Ezr 1:1"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

5:13 a decree: See 1:1-4.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Read Ezra 1:1, 2.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

Cyrus the king . . . made a decree--The Jews were perfectly warranted according to the principles of the Persian government to proceed with the building in virtue of Cyrus' edict. For everywhere a public decree is considered as remaining in force until it is revoked but the "laws of the Medes and Persians changed not" [Dan 6:8, Dan 6:12, Dan 6:15].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

13. Cyrus the king of Babylon] Cyrus so called frequently in the Inscriptions: cf. Artaxerxes king of Babylon, Neh_13:6, and Darius king of Assyria, Ezr_6:22.

the same king Cyrus] R.V. Cyrus the king: see on Ezr_1:1-2.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon,.... That is, the first year he was king of Babylon, having taken it, otherwise he was king of Persia many years before:

the same King Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God; see Ezr 1:1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Built. It did not appear that this edict had been revoked; (Calmet) nor could it be changed, if it had been passed by the advice of the Lord. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

13. Cyrus the king of Babylon — So called because he ruled over Babylon as the principal province of his empire. Compare Ezr_6:22, note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

In the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon. Recent discoveries of contract tablets have shown that at Babylon Cyrus bore the title of "king of Babylon" from the date of his conquest of the city. The same title was passed on to his successors, Cambyses, Darius, etc. Hence we find Artaxerxes Longimanus called "king of Babylon" by Nehemiah. (Neh_13:6)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Keil & Delitzsch

C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch

In the first year, however, of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus made a decree, etc.; comp. Ezr 1:3. The infin. לבנא like Ezr 5:3. - On Ezr 5:14 and Ezr 5:15, comp. Ezr 1:7-11. ויחיבוּ, praeter. pass. of Peal; they were given to one Sheshbazzar, (is) his name, i.e., to one of the name of Sheshbazzar, whom he had made pechah. Zerubbabel is also called פּחה, Hag 1:1, Hag 1:14, and elsewhere.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

But But in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus issued a command to build the House.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezra, in the Historical, opens this verse with 15 words (13 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is bᵉram (“but”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word bᵉram carries the sense “but.” How does it shape the verse?
2 words make their first appearance in Scripture here. What does this debut establish?
How does Daniel 2:28, which shares the word «but», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “Cyrus” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«לִבְּנֵֽא» is a Qal Infinitive Construct verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

2 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 15 Hebrew ↔ 18 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 5 words in this verse.
“Cyrus” occurs 2× in this single verse.
13 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 15 words in this verse.