Ezra 5:7

5:7 The report they sent to him was written as follows: ¹ 

“To King Darius: All greetings! ² 

Ezra 5:10

5:10 We also inquired of their names in order to inform you, so that we might write the names of the men who were their leaders.

Ezra 6:2

6:2 A scroll was found in the citadel ³  of Ecbatana which is in the province of Media, and it was inscribed as follows:

“Memorandum:

Ezra 4:8

4:8 Rehum the commander ⁴  and Shimshai the scribe ⁵  wrote a letter concerning ⁶  Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:

[5:7]  ¹ tn Aram “and it was written in its midst.”

[5:7]  ² tn Aram “all peace.”

[6:2]  ³ tc The translation reads בִירְתָא (birta’, citadel”) rather than the reading בְּבִירְתָא (bÿvireta’, “in the citadel”) found in the MT. The MT probably experienced dittography here.

[4:8]  ⁵ tn Aram “lord of the command.” So also in vv. 9, 17.

[4:8]  ⁶ sn Like Rehum, Shimshai was apparently a fairly high-ranking official charged with overseeing Persian interests in this part of the empire. His title was “scribe” or “secretary,” but in a more elevated political sense than that word sometimes has elsewhere. American governmental titles such as “Secretary of State” perhaps provide an analogy in that the word “secretary” can have a broad range of meaning.

[4:8]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “against.”