Ezra 4:7-9

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Ezra 4:7 tn Heb “And in the days.”
2. Ezra 4:7 tn The LXX understands this word as a prepositional phrase (“in peace”) rather than as a proper name (“Bishlam”). Taken this way it would suggest that Mithredath was “in agreement with” the contents of Tabeel’s letter. Some scholars regard the word in the MT to be a textual variation of an original “in Jerusalem” (i.e., “in the matter of Jerusalem”) or “in the name of Jerusalem.” The translation adopted above follows the traditional understanding of the word as a name.
3. Ezra 4:7 tc The translation reads the plural with the Qere rather than the singular found in the MT Kethib.
4. Ezra 4:7 sn Artaxerxes I ruled in Persia from ca. 465-425 b.c.
5. Ezra 4:7 tc It is preferable to delete the MT’s וּכְתָב (ukh^etav) here.
6. Ezra 4:7 sn The double reference in v. 7 to the Aramaic language is difficult. It would not make sense to say that the letter was written in Aramaic and then translated into Aramaic. Some interpreters understand the verse to mean that the letter was written in the Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language, but this does not seem to give sufficient attention to the participle “translated” at the end of the verse. The second reference to Aramaic in the verse is more probably a gloss that calls attention to the fact that the following verses retain the Aramaic language of the letter in its original linguistic form. A similar reference to Aramaic occurs in Dan 2:4b, where the language of that book shifts from Hebrew to Aramaic. Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26 are written in Aramaic, whereas the rest of the book is written in Hebrew.
7. Ezra 4:8 tn Aram “lord of the command.” So also in vv. 9, 17.
8. Ezra 4:8 sn Like Rehum, Shimshai was apparently a fairly high-ranking official charged with overseeing Persian interests in this part of the empire. His title was “scribe” or “secretary,” but in a more elevated political sense than that word sometimes has elsewhere. American governmental titles such as “Secretary of State” perhaps provide an analogy in that the word “secretary” can have a broad range of meaning.
9. Ezra 4:8 tn Or perhaps “against.”
10. Ezra 4:9 tn Aram “then.” What follows in v. 9 seems to be the preface of the letter, serving to identify the senders of the letter. The word “from” is not in the Aramaic text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
11. Ezra 4:9 tn For the Qere of the MT (דֶּהָיֵא, dehayeʾ, a proper name) it seems better to retain the Kethib דִּהוּא (dihuʾ, “that is”). See F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 25, §35; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 36.