a. Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased: Through the kinds of tactics of the Samaritans mentioned in the broad survey of Ezra 4:4–23, these adversaries succeeded in stopping the building work for some 15 years. i. “The word ‘Then’ would at first point us to the verse immediately before this; but it only makes sense if it is picking up the thread of verse 5 which was dropped for the
Ezra 4:24