Ezra 3:7 (DRB)

Passage

And they gave money to hewers of stones and to masons: and meat and drink, and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Libanus to the sea of Joppe, according to the orders which Cyrus king of the Persians had given them.

Nearby Context

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.

Ezra 3:6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer holocausts to the Lord: but the temple of God was not yet founded.

Ezra 3:7 And they gave money to hewers of stones and to masons: and meat and drink, and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Libanus to the sea of Joppe, according to the orders which Cyrus king of the Persians had given them.

Ezra 3:8 And in the second year of their coming to the temple of God in Jerusalem, the second month, Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Josue the son of Josedec, and the rest of their brethren the priests, and the Levites, and all that were come from the captivity to Jerusalem began, and they appointed Levites from twenty years old and upward, to hasten forward the work of the Lord.

Ezra 3:9 Then Josue and his sons and his brethren, Cedmihel, and his sons, and the children of Juda, as one man, stood to hasten them that did the work in the temple of God: the sons of Henadad, and their sons, and their brethren the Levites.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "gave", "money", "hewers", "stones", "masons", "meat", "drink", and "sidonians". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "gave" and "money", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "From the first day of the seventh..." into verse 8's "And in the second year of their...", so "gave" and "money" 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 "gave" and "money" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.