12 And many of the priests, and the Levites, and the heads of the fathers, the aged men who had seen the first house -- in this house being founded before their eyes -- are weeping with a loud voice, and many with a shout, in joy, lifting up the voice;
Who among you hath been left that saw this house in its former honour? And what are ye seeing it now? Is it not, compared with it, as nothing in your eyes?
And thy beginning hath been small, And thy latter end is very great.
Fear not, O worm Jacob, ye men of Israel, I helped thee, an affirmation of Jehovah, Even thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
The little one doth become a chief, And the small one a mighty nation, I, Jehovah, in its own time do hasten it!
Lo, I am bringing them in from the north country, And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, Among them `are' blind and lame, Conceiving and travailing one -- together, A great assembly -- they turn back hither. With weeping they come in, And with supplications I bring them, I cause them to go unto streams of waters, In a right way -- they stumble not in it, For I have been to Israel for a father, And Ephraim -- My first-born `is' he.
Thou wast looking till that a stone hath been cut out without hands, and it hath smitten the image on its feet, that `are' of iron and of clay, and it hath broken them small; then broken small together have been the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, and they have been as chaff from the summer threshing-floor, and carried them away hath the wind, and no place hath been found for them: and the stone that smote the image hath become a great mountain, and hath filled all the land.
For who trampled on the day of small things, They have rejoiced, And seen the tin weight in the hand of Zerubbabel, These seven `are' the eyes of Jehovah, They are going to and fro in all the land.'
Another simile he set before them, saying: `The reign of the heavens is like to a grain of mustard, which a man having taken, did sow in his field, which less, indeed, is than all the seeds, but when it may be grown, is greatest of the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heaven do come and rest in its branches.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezra 3
Commentary on Ezra 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
In the close of the foregoing chapter we left Israel in their cities, but we may well imagine what a bad posture their affairs were in, the ground untilled, the cities in ruins, all out of order; but here we have an account of the early care they took about the re-establishment of religion among them. Thus did they lay the foundation well, and begin their work at the right end.
Ezr 3:1-7
Here is,
Ezr 3:8-13
There was no dispute among the returned Jews whether they should build the temple or no; that was immediately resolved on, and that it should be done with all speed; what comfort could they take in their own land if they had not that token of God's presence with them and the record of his name among them? We have here therefore an account of the beginning of that good work. Observe,