Ezra 3:6 (ASV)

Passage

From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt-offerings unto Jehovah: but the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was not yet laid.

Nearby Context

Ezra 3:4 And they kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and [offered] the daily burnt-offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;

Ezra 3:5 and afterward the continual burnt-offering, and [the offerings] of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of Jehovah that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill-offering unto Jehovah.

Ezra 3:6 From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt-offerings unto Jehovah: but the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was not yet laid.

Ezra 3:7 They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, unto them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea, unto Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

Ezra 3:8 Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of Jehovah.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "first", "seventh", "month", "began", "offer", "burnt-offerings", "jehovah", and "foundation". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "first" and "seventh", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "and afterward the continual burnt-offering and the..." into verse 7's "They gave money also unto the masons...", so "first" and "seventh" belong inside that flow. In Ezra context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "first" and "seventh" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.