Ezra 4:1

Opposition to the Building Efforts

4:1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin learned that the former exiles ¹  were building a temple for the Lord God of Israel,

Ezra 4:8

4:8 Rehum the commander ²  and Shimshai the scribe ³  wrote a letter concerning ⁴  Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:

Ezra 4:14

4:14 In light of the fact that we are loyal to the king, ⁵  and since it does not seem appropriate to us that the king should sustain damage, ⁶  we are sending the king this information ⁷ 

Ezra 5:5

5:5 But God was watching over ⁸  the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped ⁹  until a report could be dispatched ¹⁰  to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.

Ezra 7:24

7:24 Furthermore, be aware of the fact ¹¹  that you have no authority to impose tax, tribute, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the musicians, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or the attendants at the temple of this God.

[4:1]  ¹ tn Heb “the sons of the exile.”

[4:8]  ² tn Aram “lord of the command.” So also in vv. 9, 17.

[4:8]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “against.”

[4:14]  ⁵ tn Aram “we eat the salt of the palace.”

[4:14]  ⁶ tn Aram “the dishonor of the king is not fitting for us to see.”

[4:14]  ⁷ tn Aram “and we have made known.”

[5:5]  ⁸ tn Aram “the eye of their God was on.” The idiom describes the attentive care that one exercises in behalf of the object of his concern.

[5:5]  ⁹ tn Aram “they did not stop them.”

[5:5]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “[could] go.” On this form see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 58, §169.

[7:24]  ¹¹ tn Aram “we are making known to you.”