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More trouble for the Jews

When Xerxes became king of Persia, Judah's enemies wrote a letter to him.[a] They said that the people who lived in Jerusalem and the rest of Judah were doing a bad thing.

Later, when Artaxerxes was king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and their friends wrote a letter to him. They wrote it in the Aramaic language. People translated it for the king to understand. Rehum, the city's ruler, and Shimshai, his officer, wrote this letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes. This is what it said:

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Footnotes

  1. 4:6 Xerxes was the son of King Darius. He was also called Ahasuerus. In this part of his book, Ezra is describing things that happened later, after the temple had been built. Now they were building the city's walls (verse 12).

Later Opposition Under Xerxes and Artaxerxes

At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes,[a](A) they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.(B)

And in the days of Artaxerxes(C) king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic(D) language.[b][c]

Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows:

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 4:6 Hebrew Ahasuerus
  2. Ezra 4:7 Or written in Aramaic and translated
  3. Ezra 4:7 The text of 4:8–6:18 is in Aramaic.