Ezra 4:10-11

4:10 and the rest of nations whom the great and noble Ashurbanipal ¹  deported and settled in the cities ²  of Samaria and other places in Trans-Euphrates. ³  4:11 (This is a copy of the letter they sent to him:)

“To King Artaxerxes, ⁴  from your servants in ⁵  Trans-Euphrates:

Ezra 6:6

6:6 “Now Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar Bozenai, and their colleagues, the officials of Trans-Euphrates – all of you stay far away from there!

Ezra 10:11

10:11 Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents ⁶  and from these foreign wives.”

[4:10]  ¹ tn Aram “Osnappar” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), another name for Ashurbanipal.

[4:10]  ² 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.

[4:10]  ³ tn Aram “beyond the river.” In Ezra this term is a technical designation for the region west of the Euphrates river.

[4:11]  ⁴ 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.

[4:11]  ⁵ tn Aram “men of.”

[10:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “the peoples of the land.”