What Does Ezra 1:3 Mean in the King James?
Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew for “go up” is the same root used for an offering that rises to God, so the journey to Jerusalem carries the language of ascent toward the LORD.
THE MEANING
God’s presence accompanies your ascent toward Jerusalem, and the movement takes shape in rebuilding the LORD’s house. The journey toward wholeness reaches a visible form in a dwelling set apart for God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The idea that return is only an inward feeling gives way here: the verse joins ascent with the tangible work of rebuilding.
THE ROOT
וְיַעַל
v’ya‘al
GROWS FROM
עלה
Rise, ascend, go up.
The verb for the person’s journey belongs to the same root as עֹלָה (ʿolah), an offering that ascends to God. English gives “go up” as simple travel, while the Hebrew also lets the journey resonate with an upward movement toward the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaliyah: Ascent, going up.
עֲלִיָּה
The person’s movement toward Jerusalem is expressed as an ascent, not simply a change of location.
ʿolah: A burnt offering; literally, that which ascends.
עֹלָה
This branch gives the journey’s upward language a connection to what rises toward God.
וַיִּבֶן
vayyiven
GROWS FROM
בנה
Build, establish.
The root’s branch בֵּן (ben, son) connects building with the continuation of a household. Here “build” can carry the sense of establishing a dwelling with a future, as well as raising its physical structure.
ALSO GROWS
ben: Son.
בֵּן
This related word lets building resonate with establishing a household and its continuation.
mivneh: Structure, building.
מִבְנֶה
This branch names the structure that the verb in Ezra describes bringing into being.
THE PATTERN
The return toward God’s dwelling takes shape through ascent and the work of building.
Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.THE THREAD
Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.Psalm 122 uses the same Hebrew root עלה (ʿalah, rise or ascend) as Ezra’s “go up.” Ezra joins that ascent to rebuilding; the Psalm shows the journey to Jerusalem as one shared by the tribes.
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