4:1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin learned that the former exiles 3 were building a temple for the Lord God of Israel, 4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders 4 and said to them, “Let us help you build, 5 for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him 6 from the time 7 of King Esarhaddon 8 of Assyria, who brought us here.” 9 4:3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, “You have no right 10 to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.” 4:4 Then the local people 11 began to discourage 12 the people of Judah and to dishearten them from building. 4:5 They were hiring advisers to oppose them, so as to frustrate their plans, throughout the time 13 of King Cyrus of Persia until the reign of King Darius 14 of Persia. 15
4:6 16 At the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus 17 they filed an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. 18 4:7 And during the reign 19 of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, 20 Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues 21 wrote to King Artaxerxes 22 of Persia. This letter 23 was first written in Aramaic but then translated.
[Aramaic:] 24
4:8 Rehum the commander 25 and Shimshai the scribe 26 wrote a letter concerning 27 Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows: 4:9 From 28 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, 29 the Elamites), 4:10 and the rest of nations whom the great and noble Ashurbanipal 30 deported and settled in the cities 31 of Samaria and other places in Trans-Euphrates. 32 4:11 (This is a copy of the letter they sent to him:)
“To King Artaxerxes, 33 from your servants in 34 Trans-Euphrates: 4:12 Now 35 let the king be aware that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and odious city. 36 They are completing its walls and repairing its foundations. 4:13 Let the king also be aware that if this city is built and its walls are completed, no more tax, custom, or toll will be paid, and the royal treasury 37 will suffer loss. 4:14 In light of the fact that we are loyal to the king, 38 and since it does not seem appropriate to us that the king should sustain damage, 39 we are sending the king this information 40 4:15 so that he may initiate a search of the records 41 of his predecessors 42 and discover in those records 43 that this city is rebellious 44 and injurious to both kings and provinces, producing internal revolts 45 from long ago. 46 It is for this very reason that this city was destroyed. 4:16 We therefore are informing the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, you will not retain control 47 of this portion of Trans-Euphrates.”
4:17 The king sent the following response:
“To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and other parts of Trans-Euphrates: Greetings! 48 4:18 The letter you sent to us has been translated and read in my presence. 4:19 So I gave orders, 49 and it was determined 50 that this city from long ago has been engaging in insurrection against kings. It has continually engaged in 51 rebellion and revolt. 4:20 Powerful kings have been over Jerusalem who ruled throughout the entire Trans-Euphrates 52 and who were the beneficiaries of 53 tribute, custom, and toll. 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. 54 4:22 Exercise appropriate caution so that there is no negligence in this matter. Why should danger increase to the point that kings sustain damage?”
4:23 Then, as soon as the copy of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read in the presence of Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they proceeded promptly to the Jews in Jerusalem 55 and stopped them with threat of armed force. 56
4:24 So the work on the temple of God in Jerusalem came to a halt. It remained halted until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia. 57
35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,
steady the knees that shake! 58
35:4 Tell those who panic, 59
“Be strong! Do not fear!
Look, your God comes to avenge!
With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.” 60
1 tn Heb “and let not your hands drop.”
2 tn Heb “for there is payment for your work.”
3 tn Heb “the sons of the exile.”
4 tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.” So also in v. 3.
5 tn Heb “Let us build with you.”
6 tc The translation reads with the Qere, a Qumran
7 tn Heb “days.”
8 sn Esarhaddon was king of Assyria ca. 681-669
9 sn The Assyrian policy had been to resettle Samaria with peoples from other areas (cf. 2 Kgs 17:24-34). These immigrants acknowledged Yahweh as well as other deities in some cases. The Jews who returned from the Exile regarded them with suspicion and were not hospitable to their offer of help in rebuilding the temple.
10 tn Heb “not to you and to us.”
11 tn Heb “the people of the land.” Elsewhere this expression sometimes has a negative connotation, referring to a lay population that was less zealous for Judaism than it should have been. Here, however, it seems to refer to the resident population of the area without any negative connotation.
12 tn Heb “were making slack the hands of.”
13 tn Heb “all the days of.”
14 sn Darius ruled Persia ca. 522-486
15 sn The purpose of the opening verses of this chapter is to summarize why the Jews returning from the exile were unable to complete the rebuilding of the temple more quickly than they did. The delay was due not to disinterest on their part but to the repeated obstacles that had been placed in their path by determined foes.
16 sn The chronological problems of Ezra 4:6-24 are well known and have been the subject of extensive discussion since ancient times. Both v. 5 and v. 24 describe the reign of Darius I Hystaspes, who ruled Persia ca. 522–486
17 sn Ahasuerus, otherwise known as Xerxes I, ruled ca. 486-464
18 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
19 tn Heb “And in the days.”
20 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 corruption of either “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.
21 tc The translation reads the plural with the Qere rather than the singular found in the MT Kethib.
22 sn Artaxerxes I ruled in Persia from ca. 465–425
23 tc It is preferable to delete the MT’s וּכְתָב (ukhÿtav) here.
24 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.
25 tn Aram “lord of the command.” So also in vv. 9, 17.
26 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.
27 tn Or perhaps “against.”
28 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.
29 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.
30 tn Aram “Osnappar” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), another name for Ashurbanipal.
31 tc The translation reads with the ancient versions the plural בְּקֻרְיַהּ (bÿquryah, “in the cities”) rather than the singular (“in the city”) of the MT.
32 tn Aram “beyond the river.” In Ezra this term is a technical designation for the region west of the Euphrates river.
33 tn The Masoretic accents indicate that the phrase “to Artaxerxes the king” goes with what precedes and that the letter begins with the words “from your servants.” But it seems better to understand the letter to begin by identifying the addressee.
34 tn Aram “men of.”
35 tn The MT takes this word with the latter part of v. 11, but in English style it fits better with v. 12.
36 sn Management of the provinces that were distantly removed from the capital was difficult, and insurrection in such places was a perennial problem. The language used in this report about Jerusalem (i.e., “rebellious,” “odious”) is intentionally inflammatory. It is calculated to draw immediate attention to the perceived problem.
37 tn Aram “the treasury of kings.” The plural “kings” is Hebrew, not Aramaic. If the plural is intended in a numerical sense the reference is not just to Artaxerxes but to his successors as well. Some scholars understand this to be the plural of majesty, referring to Artaxerxes. See F. C. Fensham, Ezra and Nehemiah (NICOT), 74.
38 tn Aram “we eat the salt of the palace.”
39 tn Aram “the dishonor of the king is not fitting for us to see.”
40 tn Aram “and we have made known.”
41 tn Aram “the book of the minutes.”
42 tn Aram “of your fathers.”
43 tn Aram “discover…and learn.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a single concept.
44 tn Aram “is a rebellious city.”
45 tn Aram “revolts they are making in its midst.”
46 tn Aram “from olden days.” So also in v. 19.
47 tn Aram “will not be to you.”
48 tn Aram “peace.”
49 tn Aram “from me was placed a decree.”
50 tn Aram “and they searched and found.”
51 tn Aram “are being done.”
52 sn The statement that prior Jewish kings ruled over the entire Trans-Euphrates is an overstatement. Not even in the days of David and Solomon did the kingdom of Israel extend its borders to such an extent.
53 tn Aram “were being given to them.”
54 tn Aram “until a command is issued from me.”
55 tn Aram “to Jerusalem against the Jews.”
56 tn Aram “by force and power,” a hendiadys.
57 sn Darius I Hystaspes ruled Persia ca. 522–486
58 tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”
59 tn Heb “Say to the hasty of heart,” i.e., those whose hearts beat quickly from fear.
60 tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.
61 tn Heb “weakening the hands of.” For this idiom see BDB 951 s.v. רָפָה Pi. and compare the usage in Isa 13:7; Ezek 21:7 (21:12 HT).
62 tn Heb “by saying these things.”
63 tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) has not been rendered here because it is introducing a parallel causal clause to the preceding one. To render “For” might be misunderstood as a grounds for the preceding statement. To render “And” or “Moreover” sounds a little odd here. If it must be represented, “Moreover” is perhaps the best rendering.
64 tn Or “is not looking out for these people’s best interests but is really trying to do them harm”; Heb “is not seeking the welfare [or “well-being”; Hebrew shalom] of this people but [their] harm [more literally, evil].”
65 tn Or “straighten.”
66 sn A quotation from Isa 35:3. Strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees refers to the readers’ need for renewed resolve and fresh strength in their struggles (cf. Heb 10:36-39; 12:1-3).