4. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth] R.V. And whosoever is left, in any place where he sojourneth. The wording of this clause is a little ambiguous. The following paraphrase will give the meaning. ‘In any place where survivors of the Jewish captivity are to be found sojourning, there let the natives of the place, the non-Israelite neighbours, render him all assistance.’ That this is the right interpretation is shown by the passages Nehemiah 1:2, ‘The Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity’ and Haggai 2:3, ‘Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory’. Cf. 2 Kings 25:22 and ‘the residue’ (R.V.) in Jeremiah 8:3; Jeremiah 24:8; Jeremiah 39:9, &c.

The A.V. gives no intelligible sense. The R.V. (1) by altering ‘remaineth’ to ‘is left’ preserves the application of the word in the original to the survivors of the Captivity, (2) by punctuation indicates the construction of the verse, in which ‘whosoever is left’ is placed independently as a heading to the whole sentence; while the words ‘in any place where he sojourneth’ do not belong to ‘whosoever is left’ but introduce the succeeding clause ‘let the men &c.’

The passage is somewhat awkwardly worded, but with the above explanation is rendered quite clear in meaning. The decree made no universal requisition for aid to the Jews. It only enjoined that local assistance should be given by neighbours, wherever any resident Jew availed himself of the king’s edict for the Return.

sojourneth] The word in the original regularly used in the sense of ‘to dwell as a stranger’. Cf. Leviticus 19:34.

help] The A.V. margin has ‘Heb. lift him up’. The word in the original is the intensive Mood of the verb ‘to lift or carry’, and occurs in 1 Kings 9:11 = ‘furnished’. The LXX. (ἀντιλαμβανέσθωσαν αὐτοῦ) renders the sense well by the Greek word so familiar to English readers in the words ‘He hath holpen Israel his servant’ (Luke 1:54).

with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts] The assistance should be given in money for the journey, in necessaries for the new homes, and in means of transport.—“Goods” a vague word, reproducing the indefiniteness of the original. It occurs again Ezra 8:21, Ezra 10:8, = ‘substance’ in A.V. and R.V. (LXX. κτῆσις and ὕπαρξις, Vulgate ‘substantia’). Here the LXX. has ἀποσκευή and the Vulgate ‘substantia’. From its use in these passages and in Genesis 12:5; Genesis 13:6, we gather that the word means the moveables of a household. ‘Beasts’ i.e. beasts of burden—horses, camels and asses. Cf. Ezra 2:66-67.

besides the freewill offering] ‘beside’, i.e. along with (Vulg. wrongly ‘excepto quod’) certain voluntary gifts of a more private nature especially intended for the Temple, as in chap. Ezra 8:25. Compare the freewill-offerings mentioned in Exodus 35:29; Leviticus 22:23. This freewill offering is not to be restricted, as by some commentators, to the gifts either of Cyrus or of the Jews who remained behind. Any one, Jew or Gentile, could make such offerings, in Ezra 3:5.

for the house of God] These words denote the object of the free-will offering: and are not, as the Hebrew accents interpret, to be taken as following after ‘help him’, the intervening words being taken parenthetically.

that is in Jerusalem] R.V. which is, consistently with Ezra 1:2-3. The clause refers to ‘the house’. Some understand ‘God’ as the antecedent to ‘which’; but see note on a similar interpretation in Ezra 1:3. The expression is in its explicitness similar to ‘Jerusalem which is in Judah’ (Ezra 1:2).

Verse 4. - Whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth. Literally correct; but the meaning is, "And with regard to all those who remain (of the captive people) in any part of the country where they have their temporary abode, let the men of his district help him with silver," etc. Cyrus finishes his decree by calling upon his heathen subjects to come to the aid of the poorer Israelites, and assist them with money, cattle, and other commodities, in order that none may be hindered by poverty, or by the want of beasts of burthen, from joining the band of emigrants, and setting out on their return to Jerusalem. Again, the kindliness of his disposition is apparent. Beside the freewill offering. So the Septuagint; but the Vulgate has, "Except the freewill offering," etc. The Septuagint and the A. V. are right. Cyrus means that money, cattle, and goods are to be made over to the poorer Israelites, in addition to any offering that might be intrusted to them for conveyance to Jerusalem, either by himself or by his subjects. Individually, he was about to send "a freewill offering," consisting of a number of gold and silver vessels for the service of the temple. His words suggest that his subjects might follow this good example.

Ezra 1:4וגו וכל־הנּשׁאר are all belonging to the people of God in the provinces of Babylon, all the captives still living: comp. Nehemiah 1:2.; Hagg. Ezr 2:3. These words stand first in an absolute sense, and וגו מכּל־מּקמות belongs to what follows: In all places where he (i.e., each man) sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with gold, etc. The men of his place are the non-Israelite inhabitants of the place. נשּׂא, to assist, like 1 Kings 9:1. רכוּשׁ specified, besides gold, silver, and cattle, means moveable, various kinds. עם־הנּדבה, with, besides the free-will offering, i.e., as well as the same, and is therefore supplied in Ezra 1:6 by על לבד. Free-will offerings for the temple might also be gold, silver, and vessels: comp. Ezra 8:28; Exodus 35:21. Ezra 1:4 Interlinear
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