Ezra 4:5 (KJV)

What does Ezra 4:5 mean?

Ezra 4:5 describes a sustained effort to stop the people rebuilding God’s temple in Jerusalem. Their opponents paid advisers to work against the builders’ plans, and the resistance continued through much of the period of Persian rule named in the verse.

After the threats described in verse 4, the account turns to the use of paid advisers. “All the days of Cyrus” through the reign of Darius gives the reader a sense of how long the builders faced resistance.

The Hebrew behind Ezra 4:5

• “counsellors” — יָעַץ (yaʿats): The Hebrew word carries the sense of advising or giving counsel. Here it points to people enlisted for their influence or advice, rather than simply a crowd opposing the work.
• “frustrate” — פָּרַר (parar): The word can mean to break or bring something to nothing. It pictures an attempt to defeat the builders’ plan, not just to make the builders feel discouraged.

Why Ezra 4:5 matters

• The opposition was organized as well as personal. The word “hired” shows that the opponents committed resources to obstructing the work.
• The dispute concerned a particular project. The builders’ “purpose” was to rebuild the temple, as the surrounding account makes clear in Ezra 4:1–3.
• The named kings help place the resistance over a span of time. Cyrus had allowed the rebuilding to begin, and the work later resumed under Darius, as described in Ezra 1:1–3 and Ezra 4:24.