What Does Ezra 6:8 Mean in the King James?
Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered.
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 decree directs the king’s wealth toward the work so that it cannot be stopped.
THE MEANING
A work of building what belongs to God can receive provision from beyond the builders’ own hands. Here, resources held by authority are directed to the work so that it is not stopped.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The builders must possess the power and resources themselves or the work must stop. Here, the means arrive from a treasury they do not control.
THE ROOT
לְבַטָּלָה
lebatala
GROWS FROM
בטל
bṭl
To cease, stop, or bring to a halt.
English “hindered” can suggest difficulty along the way, but בטל names cessation. The same root describes work being forcibly stopped elsewhere in Ezra, so this decree’s provision answers the threat of the work coming to a halt.
ALSO GROWS
lebatala: To make cease or stop.
לבטלא
Ezra 4:21 uses this form in a command to stop the builders, exposing the force carried by “hindered” here.
betelat: Ceased.
בטלת
The same root names the work’s cessation in Ezra 4:24, making this verse’s support a direct answer to that stoppage.
THE PATTERN
Resources placed in a work’s path can let it continue toward its intended end.
And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:THE THREAD
Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.The same Aramaic root בטל underlies “ceased” here and “hindered” in Ezra 6:8: one names a work stopped, the other names the state the decree prevents. Seeing the same seed in both turns the order for funding into a direct answer to cessation.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us