Ezra 6:3

3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be builded, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;

Ezra 6:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 6:3

In the first year of Cyrus the king; the same Cyrus the king
made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house
be builded
See ( Ezra 1:1-4 ) ( Isaiah 44:28 ) ,

the place where they offered sacrifices;
to God in times past, ever since it was built by Solomon:

and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid;
so as to bear and support the building erected on them, as the word signifies:

the height thereof sixty cubits;
which were thirty more than the height of Solomon's temple, ( 1 Kings 6:2 ) though sixty less than the height of the porch, which was one hundred and twenty, ( 2 Chronicles 3:4 ) and which some take to be the height of the whole house; and hence it may be observed what Herod said ^F25, that the temple then in being wanted sixty cubits in height of that of Solomon's:

and the breadth thereof sixty cubits;
whereas the breadth of Solomon's temple was but twenty, ( 1 Kings 6:2 ) , but since it cannot reasonably be thought that the breadth should be equal to the height, and so very disproportionate to Solomon's temple; many learned men understand this of the extension of it as to length, which exactly agrees with the length of the former temple, ( 1 Kings 6:2 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 15. c. 11. sect. 1.

Ezra 6:3 In-Context

1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the archives, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.

2 And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a roll, and therein was thus written for a record:

3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be builded, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;

4 with three courses of great stones, and a course of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house.

5 And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to its place; and thou shalt put them in the house of God.