What Does Ezra 5:13 Mean?
But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, the same king Cyrus set a decree to build this house of God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.THE KEY
The word translated “decree” shares its root with taste and discernment, making this order a considered judgment that opens the way for a house to rise.
THE MEANING
A settled decision can open a path through what has kept restoration unfinished. The word becomes concrete in a house that can be rebuilt and made a place of dwelling.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that interruption has the final word: a new decision can reopen what seemed closed to restoration.
THE ROOT
טְעֵם
ṭeʿēm
GROWS FROM
טעם
Taste, perceive, discern; in Biblical Aramaic, an order or decree.
“decree” in this verse is ṭeʿēm. The verse’s Aramaic word for an order is טְעֵם, from the consonants טעם, which also name taste and discernment in Hebrew. That shared root connects command with judgment: this order has material consequences for what can be rebuilt.
ALSO GROWS
taʿam: Taste, flavor; discernment or judgment
טַעַם
The same three consonants link the order to the act of tasting or discerning.
ṭaʿam: To taste, perceive
טָעַם
This Hebrew verb preserves the sensory meaning of the shared root and illuminates the judgment carried by the decree.
מַלְכָּא
malkā
GROWS FROM
מלך
To rule or reign; kingship.
“the same king Cyrus” in this verse is malkā. The consonants מלך connect the king with the act of ruling. The verse presents the decree as authority taking action, with the power to permit a dwelling to be rebuilt.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King
מֶלֶךְ
This Hebrew cognate uses the same three consonants as the Aramaic word in the verse.
mālak: To rule, reign
מָלַךְ
The verb shows the activity contained in the title: a king’s authority is expressed through what is set in motion.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling for God takes shape when an authoritative word opens the way for rebuilding.
Who says of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd, and he will make whole all my delight," saying to Jerusalem, "You will be built," and to the temple, "Its foundation will be laid."Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be given my weight, says the LORD.You also, as living stones, are built up into a house of breath, a set-apart priesthood, to carry up sacrifices of breath, well received by God through Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
And may the God who has caused his nature to dwell there destroy all kings and people who shall stretch out their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I, Darius, have set a decree; let it be done with speed.The same Aramaic word, טְעֵם (ṭeʿēm), appears again for “decree.” Here the order protects the house from alteration and destruction, showing how a considered decision can hold open the space for restoration.
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