Ezra 1:4

And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth R.V. And whosoever is left, in any place where he sojourneth. The wording of this clause is a little ambiguous. The following paraphrase will give the meaning. -In any place where survivors of the Jewish captivity are to be found sojourning, there let the natives of the place, the non-Israelite neighbours, render him all assistance." That this is the right interpretation is shown by the passages Nehemiah 1:2, -The Jews that had escaped, which were leftof the captivity" and Haggai 2:3, -Who is leftamong you that saw this house in its former glory". Cf. 2 Kings 25:22 and -the residue" (R.V.) in Jeremiah 8:3; Jeremiah 24:8; Jeremiah 39:9, &c.

The A.V. gives no intelligible sense. The R.V. (1) by altering -remaineth" to -is left" preserves the application of the word in the original to the survivors of the Captivity, (2) by punctuation indicates the construction of the verse, in which -whosoever is left" is placed independently as a heading to the whole sentence; while the words -in any place where he sojourneth" do not belong to -whosoever is left" but introduce the succeeding clause -let the men &c."

The passage is somewhat awkwardly worded, but with the above explanation is rendered quite clear in meaning. The decree made no universal requisition for aid to the Jews. It only enjoined that local assistance should be given by neighbours, wherever any resident Jew availed himself of the king's edict for the Return.

sojourneth The word in the original regularly used in the sense of -to dwell as a stranger". Cf. Leviticus 19:34.

help The A.V. margin has -Heb. lift him up". The word in the original is the intensive Mood of the verb -to lift or carry", and occurs in 1 Kings 9:11 = -furnished". The LXX. (ἀντιλαμβανέσθωσαν αὐτοῦ) renders the sense well by the Greek word so familiar to English readers in the words -He hath holpen Israel his servant" (Luke 1:54).

with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts The assistance should be given in money for the journey, in necessaries for the new homes, and in means of transport. "Goods" a vague word, reproducing the indefiniteness of the original. It occurs again Ezra 8:21; Ezra 10:8, = -substance" in A.V. and R.V. (LXX. κτῆσις and ὕπαρξις, Vulgate -substantia"). Here the LXX. has ἀποσκευή and the Vulgate -substantia". From its use in these passages and in Genesis 12:5; Genesis 13:6, we gather that the word means the moveables of a household. -Beasts" i.e. beasts of burden horses, camels and asses. Cf. Ezra 2:66-67.

besides the freewill offering -beside", i.e. along with (Vulg. wrongly -excepto quod") certain voluntary gifts of a more private nature especially intended for the Temple, as in chap. Ezra 8:25. Compare the freewill-offerings mentioned in Exodus 35:29; Leviticus 22:23. This freewill offering is not to be restricted, as by some commentators, to the gifts either of Cyrus or of the Jews who remained behind. Any one, Jew or Gentile, could make such offerings, in Ezra 3:5.

for the house of God These words denote the object of the free-will offering: and are not, as the Hebrew accents interpret, to be taken as following after -help him", the intervening words being taken parenthetically.

thatis in Jerusalem R.V. which is, consistently with Ezra 1:2-3. The clause refers to -the house". Some understand -God" as the antecedent to -which"; but see note on a similar interpretation in Ezra 1:3. The expression is in its explicitness similar to -Jerusalem which is in Judah" (Ezra 1:2).