And they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: The celebration of the Passover was followed immediately by the celebration of “the Festival of Unleavened Bread” (Good News Translation). This festival lasted seven days from the fifteenth day to the twenty-first day of the first month (Exo 12.15-20; Lev 23.6; Num 28.17; Deut 16.1-8). The people were to stay in a condition of purity for another seven days after the Passover. This was symbolized by eating unleavened bread. Leaven or yeast was a sign of impurity because food with leaven spoils.

Unleavened bread is bread that does not have yeast in it. This bread of the Israelites was usually made from wheat flour and was fairly small, flat and round in shape. A term should be used for bread here that would not be incompatible with Hebrew culture and practice. If there is no word for leaven, it may be necessary to describe it as “that which causes bread to swell up.” Unleavened bread would then be “bread without anything in it to make it swell up,” “flat bread” or “thin bread.”

The LORD had made them joyful: Like the Passover and other major events in Ezra-Nehemiah, this celebration is marked with joy (see Ezra 3.12-13; 6.16). The people were joyful for what God had done for them, because God “had given them cause to rejoice” (New Jerusalem Bible).

Had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them: It is God who turned the heart of the king to carry out the purpose intended by God. In this context that purpose is that the king should be “favorable” (Good News Translation) toward the Jews. For the Hebrews the heart was considered to be the place of reason and will. In many societies the will and reason are associated with another part of the human body, such as the “insides,” the entrails, or the liver. Alternatively, translators may say that God “had changed the thoughts of the Assyrian king to be good toward the Israelites.”

The reference to the king of Assyria seems out of place here and has led to different ideas about his identity. It is generally agreed that it is a reference to a Persian king as a successor to the kings of Assyria whose empire had been inherited first by the Babylonians and then by the Persians. Accordingly, the reference is to Cyrus who called himself a successor to the Assyrians and Babylonians in the Cyrus Cylinder (see “Translating Ezra and Nehemiah,” page 6). The reference forms a frame for the whole first part of the book of Ezra from 1.1 to 6.22, showing that everything in this history had been done by God through Cyrus to undo the evil against Israel initiated by the Assyrian kings.

He aided them is literally “he strengthened their hands” (so Bible de Jérusalem, Chouraqui, Bible en français courant; see Ezra 1.6), and some languages may have a similar expression. The general meaning is that “he assisted them” (New International Version) or “he supported them” (Good News Translation; similarly New Jerusalem Bible). New English Bible says “he encouraged them.”

The work of the house of God: Reference to work again underscores its importance as a theme in Ezra-Nehemiah (Ezra 2.69; Neh 2.16). The work that is referred to here is the work of rebuilding the Temple that has been completed. Good News Translation makes this explicit to avoid any ambiguity about the nature of the work. New International Version says “the work on the house of God.”

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 .