In addition to the offerings that were given by the king and his counselors from the royal treasury, Ezra is authorized to take all the silver and gold which you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia. This means that he is permitted to “acquire” or “collect” gifts from people living throughout Babylonia and that he is to take along all that he collects. For province see the comments on Ezra 2.1.

With the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly: Ezra is also authorized to take freewill offerings … vowed willingly for the Temple (see Ezra 1.4). The same root occurs twice in Aramaic, first as a verb “to offer freely” and then as a noun “those offering freely.” For freewill offerings, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Revised English Bible have “voluntary offerings,” which is similar to Revised Standard Version. Bible en français courant expresses the apparent emphasis of the text with “gifts offered generously.” These offerings are to be received from the people of Israel and from the priests, that is, from both the laity and the clergy. Good News Translation makes explicit that the people being referred to are “the Israelite people” and the priests are “their priests,” and this is a helpful example.

The house of their God which is in Jerusalem: See the comments on verse 15 above. In Aramaic it is clear that the pronoun their refers to the people of Israel.

Some versions interpret this verse to refer to only one group of people, namely, the “fellow citizens” of Ezra as opposed to the king and his counselors referred to in the previous verse (so Bible en français courant). However, most commentators and versions interpret the verse as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done and the translator should do likewise.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .