Ezra 4:5
New International Version
They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

New Living Translation
They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. This went on during the entire reign of King Cyrus of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne.

English Standard Version
and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Berean Standard Bible
They hired counselors against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

King James Bible
And hired counsellers against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

New King James Version
and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

New American Standard Bible
and bribed advisers against them to frustrate their advice all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

NASB 1995
and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

NASB 1977
and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Legacy Standard Bible
and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Amplified Bible
and hired advisers [to work] against them to frustrate their plans during the entire time that Cyrus king of Persia reigned, [and this lasted] even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Christian Standard Bible
They also bribed officials to act against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They also bribed officials to act against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.

American Standard Version
and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they hired obstructers against them that they would nullify their counsels all the days of Kurash the Persian King, until the kingdom of Darius King of Persia.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and continued hiring persons against them, plotting to frustrate their counsel, all the days of Cyrus king of the Persians, and until the reign of Darius king of the Persians.

Contemporary English Version
During the time that Cyrus was king and even until Darius became king, they kept bribing government officials to slow down the work.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their design all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of the Persians.

English Revised Version
and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They bribed officials to keep the people of Judah from carrying out their plans throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia until the reign of King Darius of Persia.

Good News Translation
They also bribed Persian government officials to work against them. They kept on doing this throughout the reign of Emperor Cyrus and into the reign of Emperor Darius.

International Standard Version
by bribing their consultants in order to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia until Darius became king.

JPS Tanakh 1917
and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Literal Standard Version
and are hiring against them counselors to make void their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Majority Standard Bible
They hired counselors against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

New American Bible
They also bribed counselors to work against them and to frustrate their plans during all the years of Cyrus, king of Persia, and even into the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

NET Bible
They were hiring advisers to oppose them, so as to frustrate their plans, throughout the time of King Cyrus of Persia until the reign of King Darius of Persia.

New Revised Standard Version
and they bribed officials to frustrate their plan throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.

New Heart English Bible
and hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Kurush king of Persia, even until the reign of Darayavush king of Persia.

Webster's Bible Translation
And hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

World English Bible
They hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Young's Literal Translation
and are hiring against them counsellors to make void their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even till the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Adversaries Hinder the Work
4Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build. 5They hired counselors against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Cross References
2 Chronicles 22:4
And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for to his destruction they were his counselors after the death of his father.

Ezra 4:4
Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build.

Ezra 4:6
At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, an accusation was lodged against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.


Treasury of Scripture

And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

hired

Psalm 2:1,2
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? …

Nahum 1:11
There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counseller.

Acts 24:1
And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.

Darius

Ezra 4:24
Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Ezra 5:5
But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius: and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter.

Ezra 6:1
Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.

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Counsel Counsellors Counselors Cyrus Darius Designs Effecting Entire Frustrate Hired Hiring Kept Payment Persia Plans Purpose Reign Time Void Work
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Counsel Counsellors Counselors Cyrus Darius Designs Effecting Entire Frustrate Hired Hiring Kept Payment Persia Plans Purpose Reign Time Void Work
Ezra 4
1. The adversaries, being not accepted in the building of the temple with the Jews,
4. endeavor to hinder it
7. Their letter to Artaxerxes
17. The answer and decree of Artaxerxes
23. The building is hindered














(5) And hired counsellors against them.--They adopted a systematic course of employing paid agents at the court: continued for eight years, till B.C. 529. Cambyses, his son, succeeded Cyrus; he died B.C. 522; then followed the pseudo-Smerdis, a usurper, whose short reign Darius did not reckon, but dated his own reign from B.C. 522. A comparison of dates shows that this was the first Darius, the son of Hystaspes.

Verse 5. - And hired counsellors against them. It is always possible at an Oriental court to bribe some of the royal favourites, and induce them to use their influence with the monarch for the furtherance, or hindrance, of any work that is being proceeded with in any part of the country. The Samaritans now had recourse to this system, and employed it with great success for a considerable period. All the days of Cyrus. i.e. "all the remaining days," from B.C. 537 to B.C. 529, when Cyrus died, and was succeeded by his son Cambyses. Even until the reign of Darius. It is implied that the reign of Darius did not immediately follow on that of Cyrus. Profane history tells us of two intermediate kings, via, Cambyses, son of Cyrus, who reigned from B.C. 529 to B.C. 522, and Smerdis, or Bardes, a usurper, who occupied the throne for about ten months in the years B.C. 522, 521. Darius became king in this last-named year, but seems to have counted his reign from the date of the decease of Cambyses.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
They hired
וְסֹכְרִ֧ים (wə·sō·ḵə·rîm)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 7936: To hire

counselors
יוֹעֲצִ֖ים (yō·w·‘ă·ṣîm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 3289: To advise, to deliberate, resolve

against them
עֲלֵיהֶ֛ם (‘ă·lê·hem)
Preposition | third person masculine plural
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

to frustrate
לְהָפֵ֣ר (lə·hā·p̄êr)
Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct
Strong's 6565: To break up, to violate, frustrate

their plans
עֲצָתָ֑ם (‘ă·ṣā·ṯām)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 6098: Advice, plan, prudence

throughout
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

the reign
יְמֵ֗י (yə·mê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 3117: A day

of Cyrus
כּ֚וֹרֶשׁ (kō·w·reš)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3566: Cyrus -- a person king

king
מֶ֣לֶךְ (me·leḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4428: A king

of Persia
פָּרַ֔ס (pā·ras)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 6539: Persia -- a country in west Asia which conquered Babylon

and down to
וְעַד־ (wə·‘aḏ-)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 5704: As far as, even to, up to, until, while

the reign
מַלְכ֖וּת (mal·ḵūṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 4438: Royalty, royal power, reign, kingdom

of Darius
דָּרְיָ֥וֶשׁ (dā·rə·yā·weš)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1867: Darius -- the name of several person kings

king
מֶֽלֶךְ־ (me·leḵ-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4428: A king

of Persia.
פָּרָֽס׃ (pā·rās)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 6539: Persia -- a country in west Asia which conquered Babylon


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OT History: Ezra 4:5 And hired counselors against them to frustrate (Ezr. Ez)
Ezra 4:4
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