What Does Ezra 4:3 Mean in the King James?
But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.
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 builders’ “together” has a boundary: their unity is defined by who is included in the work.
THE MEANING
A shared work can be real and still have a hard boundary: the speakers claim the labor of building a house for their God for their gathered company, under the commission they name. Their “together” does not include those they address; the refusal remains part of the claim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that faithful unity must include everyone who offers to join: here, the shared work has an explicit boundary.
THE ROOT
נִבְנֶה
nivneh
GROWS FROM
בנה
To build or establish.
The root בנה (banah, build) is traditionally linked to בֵּן (ben, son): building a household and continuing it share a word-root. Here, “we together will build” names both the work and the people who claim its continuation.
ALSO GROWS
ben: Son.
בֵּן
Its traditional link to בנה (banah, build) connects building with the forming and continuation of a household.
binyan: Building or structure.
בִּנְיָן
This noun from the same root names the structure that the speakers say they will build.
THE PATTERN
A house for God takes shape through shared labor whose participants and commission are named.
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.For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:THE THREAD
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.The same root, בנה (banah, build), appears in both verses. Nehemiah also joins “we ... build” to “ye have no portion,” making explicit the boundary Ezra places around the shared work.
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