Ezra 3:1
What does Ezra 3:1 mean?
A plain-English look at Ezra 3:1 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Ezra 3:1 means
The seventh month signaled a key season in Israel’s worship calendar, and by then the returned exiles had resettled in their various towns. Yet they did not remain scattered. They came together in unity—“as one man”—to Jerusalem. This shows that corporate worship and common purpose stood at the heart of their restoration. Even after a long exile and a difficult journey, the first impulse of the people was to gather where God had placed His name. Their unity counters the fragmentation that exile could have caused and anticipates the work still to come. Before walls and buildings, the people themselves, assembled in faith, formed the living community God intended.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people came together like one man to Jerusalem.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And the seventh month cometh, and the sons of Israel <FI>are<Fi> in the cities, and the people are gathered, as one men, unto Jerusalem.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And now the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in their cities: and the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.
Context
After the long list of returnees in the previous chapter, we now see them taking their first collective step. Verse 1 sets time and place: the seventh month and Jerusalem. It introduces the theme of unity that drives the actions that follow—rebuilding worship before rebuilding structures. The next verses will describe reestablishing the altar and sacrifices, keeping appointed feasts, and then moving toward laying the temple’s foundation. This opening prepares the reader to see that spiritual priorities lead the physical rebuilding.
v.1This passage
v.2Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt-offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Acts 4:32
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul: and not oneof themsaid that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
- Nehemiah 7:73
So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities. And when the seventh month was come, the children of Israel were in their cities.
- Exodus 23:14
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
- Leviticus 23:24
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
- Leviticus 16:29
And it shall be a statute for ever unto you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and shall do no manner of work, the home-born, or the stranger that sojourneth among you:
- Acts 2:46
And day by day, continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,