Ezra 7:12

7:12 ¹ “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the perfect law of the God of heaven:

Ezra 7:21

7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ²  Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –

Ezra 6:14

6:14 The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time ³  Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought it to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

Nehemiah 2:1

Nehemiah Is Permitted to Go to Jerusalem

2:1 Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought to me, ⁴  I took the wine and gave it to the king. Previously ⁵  I had not been depressed ⁶  in the king’s presence. ⁷ 

¹ sn Ezra 7:12-26 is written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew.

² tn Aram “who are in.”

³ tn Aram “in” or “by,” in the sense of accompaniment.

⁴ tc The translation reads with the LXX וְיַיִן לְפָנַי (vÿyayin lÿfanay, “and wine before me”) rather than יַיִן לְפָנָיו (yayin lÿfanayv, “wine before him”) of the MT. The initial vav (ו) on original וְיַיִן probably dropped out due to haplograpy or orthographic confusion with the two yods (י) which follow. The final vav on לְפָנָיו in the MT was probably added due to dittography with the vav on the immediately following word.

⁵ tc The translation reads לְפָנֵים (lÿfanim, “formerly”) rather than לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “to his face”) of the MT. The MT seems to suggest that Nehemiah was not sad before the king, which is contrary to what follows.

⁶ tn Or “showed him a sullen face.” See HALOT 1251 s.v. רַע, רָע 9.

⁷ tn This expression is either to be inferred from the context, or perhaps one should read לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “before him”; cf. the MT) in addition to לְפָנִים (lÿfanim, “formerly”). See preceding note on the word “previously.”