Ezra 9:2

9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ¹  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

Ezra 4:9

4:9 From ²  Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues – the judges, the rulers, the officials, the secretaries, the Erechites, the Babylonians, the people of Susa (that is, ³  the Elamites),

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:

Ezra 10:14

10:14 Let our leaders take steps ⁷  on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

Ezra 1:8

1:8 King Cyrus of Persia entrusted ⁸  them to ⁹  Mithredath ¹⁰  the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar ¹¹  the leader of the Judahite exiles. ¹² 

Ezra 6:6-7

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! 6:7 Leave the work on this temple of God alone. ¹³  Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this temple of God in its proper place.

Ezra 6:13

The Temple Is Finally Dedicated

6:13 Then Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues acted accordingly – with precision, just as Darius the king had given instructions. ¹⁴ 

Ezra 4:17

4:17 The king sent the following response:

“To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and other parts of Trans-Euphrates: Greetings! ¹⁵ 

Ezra 5:3

5:3 At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority ¹⁶  to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” ¹⁷ 

Ezra 5:6

5:6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and his colleagues who were the officials of Trans-Euphrates sent to King Darius.

Ezra 8:36

8:36 Then they presented the decrees of the king to the king’s satraps and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, who gave help to the people and to the temple of God.

Ezra 10:8

10:8 Everyone who did not come within three days would thereby forfeit all his property, in keeping with the counsel of the officials and the elders. Furthermore, he himself would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

Ezra 5:14

5:14 Even the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had brought to the palace ¹⁸  of Babylon – even those things King Cyrus brought from the palace of Babylon and presented ¹⁹  to a man by the name of Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed as governor.

Ezra 7:25

7:25 “Now you, Ezra, in keeping with the wisdom of your God which you possess, ²⁰  appoint judges ²¹  and court officials who can arbitrate cases on behalf of all the people who are in Trans-Euphrates who know the laws of your God. Those who do not know this law should be taught.

[9:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.

[4:9]  ² tn Aram “then.” What follows in v. 9 seems to be the preface of the letter, serving to identify the senders of the letter. The word “from” is not in the Aramaic text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[4:9]  ³ tn For the qere of the MT (דֶּהָיֵא, dehaye’, a proper name) it seems better to retain the Kethib דִּהוּא (dihu’, “that is”). See F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 25, §35; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 36.

[4:8]  ³ tn Aram “lord of the command.” So also in vv. 9, 17.

[4:8]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “against.”

[10:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “stand.”

[1:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “brought them forth.”

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “upon the hand of.”

[1:8]  ⁷ sn A Persian name meaning “gift of Mithras.” See HALOT 656 s.v. מִתְרְדָת.

[1:8]  ⁸ sn A Babylonian name with the probable meaning “Shamash protect the father.” See HALOT 1664-65 s.v. שֵׁשְׁבַּצַּר.

[1:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “Sheshbazzar the prince to Judah”; TEV, CEV “the governor of Judah.”

[6:7]  ⁶ tc For the MT reading “the work on this temple of God” the LXX reads “the servant of the Lord Zurababel” [= Zerubbabel].

[6:13]  ⁷ tn Aram “sent.”

[4:17]  ⁸ tn Aram “peace.”

[5:3]  ⁹ tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.

[5:3]  ¹⁰ tn The exact meaning of the Aramaic word אֻשַּׁרְנָא (’ussarna’) here and in v. 9 is uncertain (BDB 1083 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it to mean “wall.” Here it is used in collocation with בַּיְתָא (bayta’, “house” as the temple of God), while in 5:3, 9 it is used in parallelism with this term. It might be related to the Assyrian noun ashurru (“wall”) or ashru (“sanctuary”; so BDB). F. Rosenthal, who translates the word “furnishings,” thinks that it probably enters Aramaic from Persian (Grammar, 62-63, §189).

[5:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or “temple.”

[5:14]  ¹¹ tn Aram “they were given.”

[7:25]  ¹¹ tn Aram “in your hand.”

[7:25]  ¹² tc For the MT reading שָׁפְטִין (shoftim, “judges”) the LXX uses the noun γραμματεῖς (grammatei", “scribes”).