Ezra 4:8-9

4:8 Rehum the commander ¹  and Shimshai the scribe ²  wrote a letter concerning ³  Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows: 4:9 From ⁴  Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues – the judges, the rulers, the officials, the secretaries, the Erechites, the Babylonians, the people of Susa (that is, ⁵  the Elamites),

Ezra 4:19

4:19 So I gave orders, ⁶  and it was determined ⁷  that this city from long ago has been engaging in insurrection against kings. It has continually engaged in ⁸  rebellion and revolt.

Ezra 4:21

4:21 Now give orders that these men cease their work and that this city not be rebuilt until such time as I so instruct. ⁹ 

Ezra 5:9

5:9 We inquired of those elders, asking them, ‘Who gave you the authority to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?’

Ezra 5:13

5:13 But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, ¹⁰  King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God.

Ezra 6:1

Darius Issues a Decree

6:1 So Darius the king issued orders, and they searched in the archives ¹¹  of the treasury which were deposited there in Babylon.

Ezra 7:13

7:13 I have now issued a decree ¹²  that anyone in my kingdom from the people of Israel – even the priests and Levites – who wishes to do so may go up with you to Jerusalem. ¹³ 

[4:8]  ¹ tn Aram “lord of the command.” So also in vv. 9, 17.

[4:8]  ² 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.

[4:8]  ³ tn Or perhaps “against.”

[4:9]  ⁴ 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.

[4:9]  ⁵ tn For the qere of the MT (דֶּהָיֵא, dehaye’, a proper name) it seems better to retain the Kethib דִּהוּא (dihu’, “that is”). See F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 25, §35; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 36.

[4:19]  ⁶ tn Aram “from me was placed a decree.”

[4:19]  ⁷ tn Aram “and they searched and found.”

[4:19]  ⁸ tn Aram “are being done.”

[4:21]  ⁹ tn Aram “until a command is issued from me.”

[5:13]  ¹⁰ sn Cyrus was actually a Persian king, but when he conquered Babylon in 539 b.c. he apparently appropriated to himself the additional title “king of Babylon.” The Syriac Peshitta substitutes “Persia” for “Babylon” here, but this is probably a hyper-correction.

[6:1]  ¹¹ tn Aram “the house of the archives.”

[7:13]  ¹² tn Heb “from me is placed a decree.” So also in v. 21.

[7:13]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.