I sent them out to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should tell Iddo, and his brothers the temple servants, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.
Parallel Translations
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I sent them out to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should tell Iddo, and his brothers the temple servants, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.
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And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God.
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And I gave them commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should say unto Iddo and his brother, who were set over the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Ezra 8:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezra 2:43 The temple servants: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,
- Exodus 4:15 You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.
- Numbers 8:22-26 After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron and before his sons: as Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “This is what is assigned to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tent of Meeting; and from the age of fifty years they shall retire from doing the work, and shall serve no more, but shall assist their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to perform the duty, and shall perform no service. This is how you shall have the Levites do their duties.”
- Numbers 18:6 Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to Yahweh, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.
- Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.
- 2 Samuel 14:3 Go in to the king, and speak like this to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth.
- 2 Samuel 14:19 The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant.
- 1 Chronicles 23:3-6 The Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand. David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of Yahweh’s house, six thousand were officers and judges, four thousand were doorkeepers, and four thousand praised Yahweh with the instruments which I made for giving praise.” David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
- 1 Chronicles 23:26-32 Also the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service.” For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were counted, from twenty years old and upward. For their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of Yahweh’s house, in the courts, and in the rooms, and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of God’s house; for the show bread also, and for the fine flour for a meal offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all measurements of quantity and size; and to stand every morning to thank and praise Yahweh, and likewise in the evening; and to offer all burnt offerings to Yahweh, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before Yahweh; and that they should keep the duty of the Tent of Meeting, the duty of the holy place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of Yahweh’s house.
- Ezra 2:58 All the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred ninety-two.
- Ezra 7:7 Some of the children of Israel, including some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
- Jeremiah 1:9 Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
- Jeremiah 15:19 Therefore Yahweh says, “If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take out the precious from the vile, you will be as my mouth. They will return to you, but you will not return to them.
- Titus 1:5 I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, put words in their mouth.
Hebrew, put words in their mouth.
He was the chiefest that taught there the Law of God unto the Levites.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ezr 8:17 And I sent them with commandment unto…
Ezr 8:17 And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, [and] to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God.
Ver. 17. At the place Casiphia] Where it may seem that there was a college of Levites, and Iddo was their president.
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And to his brethren the Nethinims] Who were now become men of mark, brethren to Iddo, and much sought for by Ezra, Ezr 2:43, for the service they did about God’s house.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I sent them with commandment; which he might do,…
I sent them with commandment; which he might do, partly by virtue of that authority which he had over them by his priesthood; and partly by that authority which he either had received or could easily procure from the king to that purpose.
Iddo the chief; the head of the rest, either by ecclesiastical order or government, which the Persian kings allowed to the Jews; or by some grant or commission from the king.
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At the place Casiphia; not a place near the Caspian Lake, as some guess from the likeness of the names; for that was at too great a distance for his present purpose; but some other place not far from Ahava, where he knew that there was a college or considerable company of Levites together.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And by the good hand of our God upon…
And by the good hand of our God upon us,.... Favouring their designs and orders, protecting those that were sent, and inclining those they were sent to use their interest and authority with those that were under them, and making them willing also to agree to what was proposed to them:
they brought us a man of understanding of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; an Israelite, of the tribe of Levi, in the line of Mahli a son of Merari, the third son of Levi:
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and Sherebiah; or rather "even Sherebiah"; so Aben Ezra; for he is the understanding man that is meant, and described by his pedigree:
with his sons and his brethren, eighteen; all together made this number.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. At the place Casiphia] The most judicious…
Verse 17. At the place Casiphia] The most judicious commentators are agreed that by Casiphia, the Caspian mountains, between Media and Hyrcania, are intended; where, probably, the Nethinim were employed in working silver mines: כסף keseph, from which the word comes, signifies silver.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Ezr 8:17. And I sent them unto Iddo the…
Ezr 8:17. And I sent them unto Iddo the chief — Chief among the Levites, who dwelt at the place here mentioned, and there had the free exercise of their religion, as this and many other passages in this book plainly enough prove. For we find the people resorting to Ezekiel in their captivity, and him preaching to them the word of God, in many places of his book, particularly Eze 33:30-31, &c. And Ezra, in all likelihood, was an instructer among them, as Joiarib and Elnathan also were, and Iddo, to whom these were sent. By which means many proselytes were made, who left their own country, and came with them to Jerusalem when they returned, Ezr 6:21. At the place Casiphia — It is not easy to guess what place this was. The text calls it Casiphia the place. Some have taken it for the Caspian mountains, situate between Media and Hyrcania. But certainly these must have been at too great a distance from the road he was taking. Perhaps it was in Parthia, where was a city called Caspi, known to the ancient geographers. The LXX. render it, a place of silver, for כסŠ, keseph, signifies silver. That they should bring us ministers for the house of our God — The furnishing of God’s house with good ministers is a good work, and which will redound to the comfort and credit of all that have any hand it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Casiphia - Its situation is wholly unknown; but it…
Casiphia - Its situation is wholly unknown; but it cannot have been far from Ahava.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Chasphia. The Caspian mountains, between Media and Hyrcania. Here…
Chasphia. The Caspian mountains, between Media and Hyrcania. Here the Nathinites were forced to labour, under Eddo. The service of the temple would be far more eligible. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17. Iddo the chief — This person was evidently…
17. Iddo the chief — This person was evidently the head man of a community of the Nethinim — descendants of the Gibeonites given to the service of the temple, (see 1Ch_9:2,) who were dwelling at the place Casiphia. This place is now unknown, but seems, from the short time occupied in obtaining men from there, to have been not very far from Ahava.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. And I sent them with commandment] R.V. And…
17. And I sent them with commandment] R.V. And I sent them forth. Marg. another reading is I gave them commandment. The A.V. combines the two readings.
The variety of reading arises from the uncertainty felt as to the true rendering of the previous verse. The rendering ‘then sent I for’ in that verse requires in this verse the reading ‘And I sent them forth’ (C’thib). The rendering ‘then sent I’ could be followed by either ‘I sent them forth’ or ‘I gave them commandment’ (K’ri), the latter being less a repetition of the previous sentence.
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Supposing that “I gave them commandment” was the original reading, we can see that, when the Hebrew idiom in Ezr_8:16 ‘then sent I’ (the object expressed by a preposition) dropped out of sight and the literal translation seemed to be “then sent I for”, a reason was given for the very slight alteration, by which “I gave them commandment” was altered to “I sent them forth” (LXX. ἐξήνεγκα). This accounts for the existence of the two readings, and for the prevalence of that accepted in the R.V. text. But the R.V. margin seems preferable. It gives a natural sense and agrees well with what precedes and follows. On the other hand the alternative reading “I sent them forth” represents a word of great frequency in the sense of ‘bring forth or out’ (e.g. Ezr_1:7, Ezr_10:3; Ezr_10:19; Neh_9:7; Neh_9:15): it denotes ‘deliverance’, ‘dismissal’, ‘removal’, ‘utterance’: but is not at all suited to the description of the mission. It occurs very often in the O.T., but it may be questioned whether it is ever elsewhere rendered “send forth”.
unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia] Lit. ‘Iddo the head’. Iddo clearly exercised some position of authority over the Jews, and particularly over the Levites and Nethinim settled at Casiphia. We may conjecture that Iddo was a Levite presiding over a college of young Levites and Nethinim, and who might be ready to send young men to Ezra’s aid.
Casiphia] which some of the older commentators used to identify with the ‘Caspian’, was probably some village in the neighbourhood of Babylon. The LXX. rendered the word from the similarity of the first part of the word to the Hebrew ‘ceseph’ (silver), ἐν ἀργυρίῳ τοῦ τόπου.
and I told them what they should say] Lit. ‘And I put words in their mouth to speak’. The general charge comprised verbatim instructions. On the phrase “put words … in mouth”, cf. Exo_4:15; Num_23:16; Deu_31:19.
unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims] R.V. unto Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim. Marg. ‘The text as pointed has, Iddo, his brother.’ The text is here corrupt. The uncertainty as to Iddo’s position, and the unlikelihood that a man of such influence would have been one of the Nethinim, has increased the doubtfulness of the true reading, (a) Adopting the pointed text, and supposing the letter Vaw (=and) to be accidentally dropped after the name of Iddo which ends with that letter, we could render ‘unto Iddo and his brother, the Nethinim’. (b) Altering the vowel-points and assuming the omission of the same letter, we obtain the rendering of the A.V. and R.V. “unto Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim” (cf. Ezr_3:2, Jeshua and his brethren the priests). (c) Supposing a second similar omission to have taken place, we have “unto Iddo and his brethren (i.e. Levites) and the Nethinim”.
Of these alternative renderings (c) appears to be the most probable. The appeal is made to Iddo and to his brethren the Levites. As the response (18–20) comes from Levites and Nethinim, we conclude that Iddo presided over the Nethinim as well as over the Levites. Just as a High-priest himself a priest, would preside over priests and Levites, so Iddo himself a Levite would preside over Levites and Nethinim. The Nethinim may have been more numerous and influential than the Levites. At any rate it is not likely that Iddo himself belonged to this inferior class.
ministers] A very general word in the original, to include Levites and Nethinim. Cf. 1Sa_2:11. The LXX., misreading a letter, renders “singers” (ᾄδοντας).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) The place Casiphia.—Evidently near Ahavah, and a colony…
(17) The place Casiphia.—Evidently near Ahavah, and a colony of Jews presided over by Iddo, one of the humble race of the Nethinims, but at present chief under the Persians. Ezra was aware of their existence in these parts.
Ministers.—A term obviously including Levites and Nethinims.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Iddo, the chief at the place Casiphia. Not "the…
Iddo, the chief at the place Casiphia. Not "the Caspian" certainly; nor even "Casvin," which is at least 400 miles from Hit by the nearest route, but some Babylonian village in the vicinity of Ahava, not otherwise known to us. Unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims. The "and" here is rightly supplied. It has fallen out in consequence of the word Iddo ending with the same letter. Iddo, though the head man of the village under the Persians, belonged by descent to the comparatively low grade of the Nethinims.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 This is a man's name. (See: How to Translate…
Iddo
This is a man's name. (See: How to Translate Names)
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Next I sent them to Iddo
The word "them" refers to the nine leaders and two teachers written about in Esra 8:16. AT: "Next I sent those men to Iddo" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Kasiphia
This is the name of a place. (See: How to Translate Names)
I told them what to say to Iddo ... that is, to send to us servants for the house of God
The words "that is" introduces what he told them to say. AT: "I told them to tell Iddo ... to send us servants for the house of God"
translationWords
temple
servant
house of God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.