8
In the second month of the second year after they had arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their associates including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years of age or older to supervise the construction of the house of the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
haš·šê·nî ba·ḥō·ḏeš haš·šê·nîṯ ū·ḇaš·šā·nāh lə·ḇō·w·’ām ’el- bêṯ hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm lî·rū·šā·lim zə·rub·bā·ḇel be·nōš- šə·ʾal·tî·ʾēl wə·yê·šū·a‘ ben- yō·w·ṣā·ḏāq ū·šə·’ār ’ă·ḥê·hem hak·kō·hă·nîm wə·hal·wî·yim wə·ḵāl hab·bā·’îm yə·rū·šā·lim mê·haš·šə·ḇî hê·ḥêl·lū way·ya·‘ă·mî·ḏū ’eṯ- hal·wî·yim ‘eś·rîm mib·ben šā·nāh wā·ma‘·lāh lə·naṣ·ṣê·aḥ ‘al- mə·le·ḵeṯ bêṯ- Yah·weh
Word by word36 · parsed
√ shênîy — properly, double, iArticleNumberordinal masculine singular
√ chôdesh — the new moonPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
chôdesh: the new moon, hence month The reckoning is by new moons. Ellicott names this month Zif and draws the point: "In the second month. —Zif, chosen apparently because it was the same month in which Solomon laid the first foundation (1 Kings 6)." Gill calls it Ijar and places the passover in the month before; Benson adds that they waited until the passover solemnities were finished.
√ shênîy — properly, double, iArticleNumberordinal feminine singular
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person masculine plural
bôwʼ: to go or come An infinitive construct with suffix, "of their coming," which the chronology hangs on. K&D weighs at length whether this second year of the coming coincides with the second year of Cyrus, and declines to decide: "cannot be determined." Ellicott and Pulpit both date it B.C. 537; K&D says the foundation was laid B.C. 535 or 534. The unit's own text fixes only the year of the return, not the regnal year.
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseArticleNounmasculine plural
ʼĕlôhîym: God (plural form, singular sense) "The house of the God" is named before Jerusalem and before the leaders. Barnes presses the strangeness: they came "to the place where the house of God had been, and where God was believed still to have His special dwelling." There was no house standing; the ruin still bore the name.
√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-lNounproperfeminine singular
√ Zᵉrubbâbel — Zerubbabel, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
√ Shᵉʼaltîyʼêl — Shealtiel, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
√ Yêshûwaʻ — Jeshua, the name of ten Israelites, also of a place in PalestineConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
√ Yôwtsâdâq — Jotsadak, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
√ shᵉʼâr — a remainderConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
√ ʼâch — a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance (like father))Nounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural
√ kôhên — literally one officiating, a priestArticleNounmasculine plural
√ Lêvîyîy — a Levite or descendant of LeviConjunctive waw, ArticleNounpropermasculine plural
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)ArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural
bôwʼ: to come (Qal participle) The same root as lᵉvōʼām in the first clause, now a participle, "the ones coming from the captivity." BSB's "who had returned" is interpretive: the Hebrew says coming, not returning, and most of these had never seen the land they came to.
√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
√ shᵉbîy — exiledPreposition-m, ArticleNounmasculine singular
√ châlal — properly, to bore, iVerbHifilPerfectthird person common plural
châlal: properly, to bore; Hifil, to begin Strong's files under this one entry both "to begin" and "to profane," on the shared image of boring through or breaking into something; many modern lexicons separate them as homonyms, and ⚙ nothing in this verse settles that. What the parse does settle is the stem: a Hifil, a causative, "they caused a beginning." The first act of the restored community is a breach made in the silence of fifty years.
√ ʻâmad — to stand, in various relations (literal and figurative, intransitive and transitive)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
ʻâmad: to stand (Hifil, to cause to stand) Barnes marks this as the hinge: "And appointed the Levites - This is the emphatic clause of the present verse." Barnes presses the disproportion: "Though so small a number of Levites had returned from Babylon Ezra 2:40 , yet they were especially singled out." Cambridge: "The small number of Levites available made it all the more important to lower the standard of age."
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
√ Lêvîyîy — a Levite or descendant of LeviArticleNounpropermasculine plural
√ ʻesrîym — twentyNumbercommon plural
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct
bên: a son, as builder of the family name The idiom "from a son of twenty years" measures a man by descent even when it means age. Numbers 8:24-25 set the Levite's term at twenty-five to fifty; Cambridge and Gill both observe that David's reorganization moved the lower limit to twenty (1 Chronicles 23:24, 27), and that this verse follows David, not Moses. Ellicott: the age is "in strict harmony with the original ordinances of David."
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular
√ maʻal — properly, the upper part, used only adverbially with prefix upward, above, overhead, from the top, etcConjunctive wawAdverbthird person feminine singular
√ nâtsach — properly, to glitter from afar, iPreposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct
nâtsach: properly, to glitter from afar; Piel, to oversee, to lead the music Cambridge calls it "A rare word," and it is the strangest in the unit. Its Piel participle, mᵉnatstsêach, is the word standing at the head of the Psalm titles ("to the chief Musician") and closing Habakkuk 3:19; Cambridge documents that outside Ezra and 1 Chronicles 23:4 it occurs nowhere else but there. So the Levites are set over stone and timber with the verb that belongs to conducting a choir, and three verses later they are conducting one.
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
√ mᵉlâʼkâh — properly, deputyship, iNounfeminine singular construct
mᵉlâʼkâh: properly, deputyship, hence work, errand, business The noun is not raw labor but commissioned work, work held on another's behalf. It recurs twice in v. 9. The same word governs the Levites' charge at 1 Chronicles 23:4 and, in Exodus 35 to 36, the building of the tabernacle: the vocabulary of a delegated commission, not of a construction project.
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉhôvâh: the divine name The verse opens with "the house of the God" and closes with "the house of YHWH." The generic name marks the ruin they arrived at; the covenant name marks the work they are set over.