Ezra 4:15

Read in context

Ezra 4:13–17 · Berean Standard Bible

13 Let it now be known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, they will not pay tribute, duty, or toll, and the royal treasury will suffer.

14 Now because we are in the service of the palace and it is not fitting for us to allow the king to be dishonored, we have sent to inform the king

15 that a search should be made of the record books of your fathers. In these books you will discover and verify that the city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, inciting sedition from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed.

16 We advise the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, you will have no dominion west of the Euphrates.

17 Then the king sent this reply: To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of your associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in the region west of the Euphrates: Greetings.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study Ezra 4:15

Read the commentary on Ezra 4

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Ezra 4:12

Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came from you to us have returned to Jerusalem. And they are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city, restoring its walls, and repairing its foundations.

Nehemiah 2:19

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

Nehemiah 6:6

that read: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem agrees—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and this is why you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king,

Esther 3:5

When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage.

Esther 3:6

And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.

Esther 3:7

In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

Esther 3:8

Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

Daniel 6:4

Thus the administrators and satraps sought a charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or corruption, because he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.

Daniel 6:5

Finally these men said, “We will never find any charge against this Daniel, unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.”

Daniel 6:6

So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said, “O King Darius, may you live forever!

Daniel 6:7

All the royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce a decree that for thirty days anyone who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions.

Daniel 6:8

Therefore, O king, establish the decree and sign the document so that it cannot be changed—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”

Daniel 6:9

Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.

Daniel 6:10

Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Daniel 6:11

Then these men went as a group and found Daniel petitioning and imploring his God.

Daniel 6:12

So they approached the king and asked about his royal decree: “Did you not sign a decree that for thirty days any man who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions?” The king replied, “According to the law of the Medes and Persians the order stands, and it cannot be repealed.”

Daniel 6:13

Then they told the king, “Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, shows no regard for you, O king, or for the decree that you have signed. He still makes his petition three times a day.”

Acts 17:6

But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,

Acts 17:7

and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!”

2 Kings 24:20

For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence. And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.

2 Kings 25:1

So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

2 Kings 25:4

Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,

Jeremiah 52:3

For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence. And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:4

So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

Jeremiah 52:5

And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

Jeremiah 52:6

By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.

Jeremiah 52:7

Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,

Jeremiah 52:8

but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was separated from him.

Jeremiah 52:9

The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on Zedekiah.

Jeremiah 52:10

There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the officials of Judah.

Jeremiah 52:11

Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon, where he kept him in custody until his dying day.

Jeremiah 52:12

On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 52:13

He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.

Jeremiah 52:14

And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 52:15

Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the craftsmen.

Jeremiah 52:16

But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.

Jeremiah 52:17

Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:18

They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service.

Jeremiah 52:19

The captain of the guard also took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls—anything made of pure gold or fine silver.

Jeremiah 52:20

As for the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands that King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure.

Jeremiah 52:21

Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick.

Jeremiah 52:22

The bronze capital atop one pillar was five cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.

Jeremiah 52:23

Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, and a total of a hundred pomegranates were above the surrounding network.

Jeremiah 52:24

The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers.

Jeremiah 52:25

Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as seven trusted royal advisers. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.

Jeremiah 52:26

Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

Jeremiah 52:27

There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land.

Jeremiah 52:28

These are the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;

Jeremiah 52:29

in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;

Jeremiah 52:30

in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away 745 Jews. So in all, 4,600 people were taken away.

Jeremiah 52:31

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the first year of the reign of Evil-merodach king of Babylon, he pardoned Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison.

Jeremiah 52:32

And he spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:33

So Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life.

Jeremiah 52:34

And the king of Babylon provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life, until the day of his death.