Ezra 4:21

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. ¹ 

Ezra 4:23

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 ²  and stopped them with threat of armed force. ³ 

Ezra 5:5

5:5 But God was watching over ⁴  the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped ⁵  until a report could be dispatched ⁶  to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.

[4:21]  ¹ tn Aram “until a command is issued from me.”

[4:23]  ² tn Aram “to Jerusalem against the Jews.”

[4:23]  ³ tn Aram “by force and power,” a hendiadys.

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Aram “the eye of their God was on.” The idiom describes the attentive care that one exercises in behalf of the object of his concern.

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Aram “they did not stop them.”

[5:5]  ⁶ tn Aram “[could] go.” On this form see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 58, §169.