7:25 “Now you, Ezra, in keeping with the wisdom of your God which you possess, 3 appoint judges 4 and court officials who can arbitrate cases on behalf of all the people who are in Trans-Euphrates who know the laws of your God. Those who do not know this law should be taught. 7:26 Everyone who does not observe both the law of your God and the law of the king will be completely 5 liable to the appropriate penalty, whether it is death or banishment or confiscation of property or detainment in prison.”
7:27 6 Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who so moved in the heart of the king to so honor the temple of the Lord which is in Jerusalem! 7:28 He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.
49:23 Kings will be your children’s 7 guardians;
their princesses will nurse your children. 8
With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you
and they will lick the dirt on 9 your feet.
Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;
those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.
1 tn Heb “also in Judah the hand of God was to give to them one heart to do the command of the king and the officials by the word of the
2 tn Aram “we are making known to you.”
3 tn Aram “in your hand.”
4 tc For the MT reading שָׁפְטִין (shoftim, “judges”) the LXX uses the noun γραμματεῖς (grammatei", “scribes”).
5 tn On the meaning of this word see HALOT 1820-21 s.v. אָסְפַּרְנָא; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 14.
6 sn At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (7:12-26) back to Hebrew.
7 tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).
8 tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.
9 tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”