Ezra 3:3 (DRB)

Passage

And they set the altar of God upon its bases, while the people of the lands round about put them in fear, and they offered upon it a holocaust to the Lord morning and evening.

Nearby Context

Ezra 3:1 And 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.

Ezra 3:2 And Josue the son of Josedec rose up, and his brethren the priests, and Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and his brethren, and they built the altar of the God of Israel that they might offer holocausts upon it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.

Ezra 3:3 And they set the altar of God upon its bases, while the people of the lands round about put them in fear, and they offered upon it a holocaust to the Lord morning and evening.

Ezra 3:4 And they kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the holocaust every day orderly according to the commandment, the duty of the day in its day.

Ezra 3:5 And afterwards the continual holocaust, both on the new moons, and on all the solemnities of the Lord, that were consecrated, and on all in which a freewill offering was made to the Lord.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "altar", "upon", "bases", "people", "lands", "round", "fear", and "offered". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "altar" and "upon", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "And Josue the son of Josedec rose..." into verse 4's "And they kept the feast of tabernacles...", so "altar" and "upon" 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 "altar" and "upon" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.