“To King Artaxerxes, 1 from your servants in 2 Trans-Euphrates:
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 3 and stopped them with threat of armed force. 4
1 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.
2 tn Aram “men of.”
3 tn Aram “to Jerusalem against the Jews.”
4 tn Aram “by force and power,” a hendiadys.