Lectionary Calendar
Monday, April 20th, 2026
the Third Week after Easter
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Ezra 4:4

So these people started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built. They even hired propagandists to sap their resolve. They kept this up for about fifteen years, throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia and on into the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Joshua;   Lobbying;   Thompson Chain Reference - Helps-Hindrances;   Hindrances;   Opposers;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Temple, the Second;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Darius;   Samaritans;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Haggai;   Joshua the son of jehozadak;   Samaria, samaritans;   Temple;   Zechariah, book of;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Ahasuerus;   Samaria;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Exile;   Ezra, Book of;   People of the Land;   Temple of Jerusalem;   Zerubbabel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Darius;   Haggai;   Nehemiah, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Samaria, Samaritans;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Samaritans;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Babylonish Captivity, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ezra-Nehemiah;   Haggai;   Samaria, Country of;   Samaritans;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Captivity;   Ephraim;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then the people who were already in the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build.
Hebrew Names Version
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Yehudah, and troubled them in building,
King James Version
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
English Standard Version
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build
New Century Version
Then the people around them tried to discourage the people of Judah by making them afraid to build.
New English Translation
Then the local people began to discourage the people of Judah and to dishearten them from building.
Amplified Bible
Then [the Samaritans and others of] the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them [to deter them] from building,
New American Standard Bible
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building,
World English Bible
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
Geneva Bible (1587)
Wherefore the people of the land discouraged the people of Iudah, and troubled them in buylding,
Legacy Standard Bible
So the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and dismayed them from building,
Berean Standard Bible
Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build.
Contemporary English Version
Then the neighboring people began to do everything possible to frighten the Jews and to make them stop building.
Complete Jewish Bible
Then the people of the land began discouraging the people of Y'hudah, in order to make them afraid to build.
Darby Translation
And the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building;
Easy-to-Read Version
So the enemies began to discourage them and tried to frighten them in order to stop them from building the Temple.
George Lamsa Translation
Then the Gentiles of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and terrified them that they should not build,
Good News Translation
Then the people who had been living in the land tried to discourage and frighten the Jews and keep them from building.
Lexham English Bible
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build
Literal Translation
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and terrified them in building.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then the folke of the londe hyndered the people of Iuda, and made them afrayed to buylde,
American Standard Version
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
Bible in Basic English
Then the people of the land made the hands of the people of Judah feeble, troubling them with fear in their building;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And it came to passe, that the folke of the lande discouraged the people of Iuda, & troubled them as they were building:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and harried them while they were building,
King James Version (1611)
Then the people of the land weakened the handes of the people of Iudah, and troubled them in building,
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Juda, and hindered them in building,
English Revised Version
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe it was doon, that the puple of the lond lettide the hondis of the puple of Juda, and trobliden hem in bildyng.
Update Bible Version
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
Webster's Bible Translation
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
New King James Version
Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building,
New Living Translation
Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work.
New Life Bible
Then the people of the land made the hearts of the people of Judah weak, and made them afraid to go on building.
New Revised Standard
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them afraid to build,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then came it to pass, that, the people of the land, were weakening the hands of the people of Judah, - and troubling them in building;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Then the people of the land hindered the hands of the people of Juda, and troubled them in building.
Revised Standard Version
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them afraid to build,
Young's Literal Translation
And it cometh to pass, the people of the land are making the hands of the people of Judah feeble, and troubling them in building,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building,

Contextual Overview

1Old enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building The Temple of the God of Israel. They came to Zerubbabel and the family heads and said, "We'll help you build. We worship your God the same as you. We've been offering sacrifices to him since Esarhaddon king of Assyria brought us here." 3 Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the family heads of Israel said to them, "Nothing doing. Building The Temple of our God is not the same thing to you as to us. We alone will build for the God of Israel. We're the ones King Cyrus of Persia commanded to do it." 4So these people started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built. They even hired propagandists to sap their resolve. They kept this up for about fifteen years, throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia and on into the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

weakened: Ezra 3:3, Nehemiah 6:9, Isaiah 35:3, Isaiah 35:4, Jeremiah 38:4

troubled: Nehemiah 4:7, Nehemiah 4:8, Nehemiah 4:11

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 4:1 - his hands Nehemiah 2:10 - there was come Daniel 10:13 - the prince Zechariah 1:19 - scattered

Cross-References

Genesis 4:16
Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden.
Genesis 4:17
Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a city and named it after his son, Enoch. Enoch had Irad, Irad had Mehujael, Mehujael had Methushael, Methushael had Lamech.
Genesis 4:19
Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal, the ancestor of all who live in tents and herd cattle. His brother's name was Jubal, the ancestor of all who play the lyre and flute. Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who worked at the forge making bronze and iron tools. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.
Genesis 15:17
When the sun was down and it was dark, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch moved between the split carcasses. That's when God made a covenant with Abram: "I'm giving this land to your children, from the Nile River in Egypt to the River Euphrates in Assyria—the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
Numbers 16:35
Then God sent lightning. The fire cremated the 250 men who were offering the incense.
Numbers 18:17
"On the other hand, you don't redeem a firstborn ox, sheep, or goat—they are holy. Instead splash their blood on the Altar and burn their fat as a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God . But you get the meat, just as you get the breast from the Wave-Offering and the right thigh. All the holy offerings that the People of Israel set aside for God , I'm turning over to you and your children. That's the standard rule and includes both you and your children—a Covenant-of-Salt, eternal and unchangeable before God ."
Judges 6:21
The angel of God stretched out the tip of the stick he was holding and touched the meat and the bread. Fire broke out of the rock and burned up the meat and bread while the angel of God slipped away out of sight. And Gideon knew it was the angel of God! Gideon said, "Oh no! Master, God ! I have seen the angel of God face-to-face!"
1 Kings 18:38
Immediately the fire of God fell and burned up the offering, the wood, the stones, the dirt, and even the water in the trench.
2 Chronicles 7:1
When Solomon finished praying, a bolt of lightning out of heaven struck the Whole-Burnt-Offering and sacrifices and the Glory of God filled The Temple. The Glory was so dense that the priests couldn't get in— God so filled The Temple that there was no room for the priests! When all Israel saw the fire fall from heaven and the Glory of God fill The Temple, they fell on their knees, bowed their heads, and worshiped, thanking God : Yes! God is good! His love never quits!
Hebrews 11:4
By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That's what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building. By threatening them, or by dissuading the workmen from going on, by endeavouring to hinder their having materials from the Tyrians and Zidonians, or money out of the king's revenues to bear the expenses as ordered; see Ezra 6:4.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezra 4:4. Weakened the hands — Discouraged and opposed them by every possible means.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile