Ezra - Ferrar Fenton Bible Translation page 919
The Psalms, Solomon and Sacred Writers
an order, and they searched in the Record Ofiice of the Treasury where the archives were kept in Babel, and found at Akhmetha the Capita] of the Government of Media, a roll} on which was written round the re- cords :—·— ®¤pg nf the Qzcrzz uf Gigruz. ‘ In the first year of Koresh the King: ‘ King Koresh signs a Decree
concerning the House of GOD at jerusalem :··— ‘Let a. House be built for the
Sacrincing of Sacrifices. And let the foundations be constructed in length sixty cubits, and sixty cubits broad. ‘ Let it be built of three courses of
great stones, and a course of timber: and let the cost be paid from the Royal Palace. ‘And also let the gold and silver
furniture of the House of GOD, that Nebukadnezzar removed from the Temple of jerusalem, and carried to Babel, be restored, and taken to the Temple in jerusalem, and put in its proper place in the House of Gon: ®¤n&rmati¤n hg Qarius. ‘C0nsequently, Tatnai, Governor
of the Over·river, Shathar-boznai, and
-··-or probably
——a staf of clay, which at that period was the usual substance upon which Government records and other writing was written, or rather engraved, and the clay then baked into pot· tery in a kiln, so as to be indestructible, as the Assyrian and Babylonian discoveries of Layard and others have shown by explora- tion of the buried ruins of those ancient Cities. These discoveries throw great light upon the contemporary Biblical histories, and prove that at the time under review here, the Fourth century before Christ, papyrus or other paper had not been invented. The 5175] (Galali) Rolls soken of in the Scri pp- tures of earlier date t an 4oo ac. were un- ‘l’D (Seferim), Books, were slabs, slates, or thin a split- I note this, for the fact disposes of certain attacks upon the Biblical records, and of the alleged authenticity of (asserted) containing statements contradictory to the Scriptural are in reality modern forgeries to meet the desires of European scegtics who seek to assail the Christian Fait .···-·F. F. Over-river, must refrain from inter- ference. Let the works at the House of GOD be done. Let the Governor of the jews, and the leaders of the jews construct the House of GOD upon its site. ‘ And I further sign this Decree as
to what you shall provide for these Leaders ofthe jews who are building this House of GOD ;—That there shal} be paid from the Royal Treasuries, from the taxes of the Over·river, the expenses that may be incurred by those men, and without delay. And whatever is needed, whether of young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, to offer to the Gon or run Heavens, wheat, salt, wine, oil, as demanded by the Priests in jerusalem, you shall give to them, day by day ;—-—of which fail not !—for them to present per~ fumes to the Gon or rm: HEAVENS, and to pray for the life of the King and his children. ‘And I sign a Decree, that every
person who may alter this letter a beam shall be taken from his house, and he shall be nailed upright upon it, and his house be made a dunghill for it. And may the GOD who dwells there, confound and overthrow every king and People who extends his hand to alter or injure the House of GOD that is in jerusalem! ‘ I, Dariush, have confirmed this
Decree. Let it be executed at once.’ Therefore Tatnai, the Governor of
the Over·river, Shetharaboznai, and their Associates, because of what King Dariush had sent them in the above, IO II I2
acted at once; and the Leaders ofthe 14 jews built, and prospered, through the Preaching ofthe Preachers Hagai, and Zakeriah-bar-Adoa. So they built and completed,according to the order of the‘GOD of Israel, and the Decrees of Koresh and Dariush and Arthakshasta the kings of the Persians. (ac. 515.) dbz dzmplz Sinislyzh anu Qznimtzh. So the temple was finished on the
third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Dariush, when the Children of Israel, with the Priests and Levites, and the rest of the sons of the Transports, celebrated the Dedication of the House of GoD with delight. At this Dedication they offered in the House of GOD a hundred QY9 16
