7 They gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, to them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
According to the grant - i. e., in accordance with the permission granted them by Cyrus to rebuild their temple Ezra 1:1-4.
They gave money also - They copied the conduct of Solomon while he was building his temple; see 1-Kings 5:11. He employed the Tyrians, gave them meat and drink, etc.; and this permission they now had from Cyrus.
They gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters,.... To buy stone and timber with for the building of the temple:
and meat and drink and oil unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre; which were more agreeable to them than money, because there was not plenty of such things in their country, as in the land of Israel:
to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa; as they did at the first building of the temple by Solomon; they cut down cedars at Lebanon, which belonged to them, and sent them by sea to Joppa, the nearest seaport to Jerusalem, about forty miles from it: see 2-Chronicles 2:16,
according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia; for Tyre and Zidon being under his dominion as well as Judea, he not only gave leave to the Jews to get cedar wood from Lebanon, but gave orders to the Zidonians and Tyrians to furnish them with it, paying a valuable consideration for it; and so some (a) render the word, "according to the commandment of Cyrus".
(a) "juxta praeceptum", Vatablus; "juxta quod praeceperat", V. L. So Ben Melech.
They gave . . . meat . . . drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon--They opened negotiations with the Tyrians for workmen, as well as for timber, on the same terms and with the same views as Solomon had done (1-Kings 5:11; 2-Chronicles 2:15-16).
Preparations were also made for the rebuilding of the temple; money was given to hewers of wood and to masons, and meat and drink (i.e., corn and wine) and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians (i.e., the Phoenicians; comp. 1-Chronicles 22:4), to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa (i.e., to the coast of Joppa), as was formerly done by Solomon, 1-Kings 5:6., 2-Chronicles 2:7. כּרשׁיון, according to the grant of Cyrus to them, i.e., according to the permission given them by Cyrus, sc. to rebuild the temple. For nothing is said of any special grant from Cyrus with respect to wood for building. רשׁיון is in the O.T. ἁπ. λεγ.; in Chaldee and rabbinical Hebrew, רשׁא and רשׁי mean facultatem habere; and רשׁוּ power, permission.
*More commentary available at chapter level.