Ezra Chapter 4 verse 2 Holy Bible

ASV Ezra 4:2

then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers' `houses', and said unto them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; and we sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.
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BBE Ezra 4:2

Then they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of families, and said to them, Let us take part in the building with you; for we are servants of your God, even as you are; and we have been making offerings to him from the days of Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, who put us here.
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DARBY Ezra 4:2

and they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief fathers, and said to them, We would build with you; for we seek your God, as ye; and we have sacrificed to him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.
read chapter 4 in DARBY

KJV Ezra 4:2

Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither.
read chapter 4 in KJV

WBT Ezra 4:2

Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said to them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice to him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assur, who brought us up hither.
read chapter 4 in WBT

WEB Ezra 4:2

then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers' [houses], and said to them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as you do; and we sacrifice to him since the days of Esar Haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.
read chapter 4 in WEB

YLT Ezra 4:2

and they draw nigh unto Zerubbabel, and unto heads of the fathers, and say to them, `Let us build with you; for, like you, we seek to your God, and we are not sacrificing since the days of Esar-Haddon king of Asshur, who brought us up hither.'
read chapter 4 in YLT

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - We seek your God, as ye do. "We seek your God" was true; "as ye do" was not true. The Samaritans worshipped Jehovah, but not, as the Jews did, exclusively. "They feared the Lord, and worshipped their own gods" (2 Kings 17:33). Such worship dishonours Jehovah almost more than total neglect of him. Since the days of Esar-haddon. There was more than one colonisation of Central Palestine by the Assyrians. Sargon relates that he placed Arabians in the country; the writer of Kings tells us that it was occupied by Babylonians, Cuthaeans, Avites, Hamathites, and Sepharrites (2 Kings 17:24); the Samaritans themselves said that they were "Dinaites, Apharsathchites, Tarpelites, Apharsites, Archevites, Babylonians, Susanchites, Debarites, and Elamites" (infra, ver. 9). They attributed this last colonization to Esar-haddon. We may suspect that the second colonisation was by Sennacherib, who appears to have taken Babylon, Hamath, Sepharvaim, and Ivah or Avah (2 Kings 18:34). The result was that the Samaritans were a very mixed race.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) As ye do.--"They feared the Lord, and worshipped their own gods" (2Kings 17:33): thus they came either in the spirit of hypocrites or with an intention to unite their own idolatries with the pure worship of Jehovah. In any case, they are counted enemies of the God of Israel.We do sacrifice unto Him since the days of Esar-haddon.--He ended his reign B.C. 668, and therefore the Samaritans speak from a tradition extending backwards a century and a half.Which brought us up hither.--Thus they entirely leave out of consideration what residue of Israel was yet to be found among them.