Ezra 4
Legacy Standard Bible
Adversaries Discourage the Work
4 Then (A)the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that (B)the people of the exile were building a temple to Yahweh, the God of Israel, 2 so they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; (C)and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of (D)Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” 3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “(E)You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to Yahweh, the God of Israel, (F)as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”
4 So (G)the people of the land [a]discouraged the people of Judah and dismayed them from building, 5 and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
6 Now in the reign of [b](H)Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
7 And in the days of [c]Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the [d]text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated (I)from Aramaic.
The Letter to King Artaxerxes
8 [e]Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows—
9 then wrote Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and (J)the rest of their colleagues, the judges and (K)the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites,
10 and the rest of the nations, which the great and honorable [f]Osnappar took away into exile and settled in the city of Samaria and in the rest of the region beyond the [g]River. (L)And now—
11 this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him:
“To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men in the region beyond the River, and now—
12 let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding (M)the rebellious and evil city and (N)are completing the walls and repairing the foundations.
13 Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are completed, (O)they will not give tribute, custom, or toll, and it will damage the revenue of the kings.
14 Now because we [h]are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s [i]dishonor, therefore we have sent and made known to the king,
15 that a search be made in the record books of your fathers. And you will find in the record books and come to know that that city is a rebellious city and damaging to kings and provinces, and that they have incited revolt within it in past days; therefore that city was laid waste.
16 We make known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls completed, as a result you will have no portion in the province beyond the River.”
A Decree Makes the Men Stop Rebuilding
17 Then the king sent an edict to Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the River: “Peace. And now— 18 the document which you sent to us has been (P)plainly read before me.
19 So a decree has been [j]issued by me, and a search has been made and it has been found that that city has lifted itself up against the kings in past days, that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it,
20 (Q)that strong kings have been over Jerusalem, even rulers in all the provinces (R)beyond the River, and that (S)tribute, custom, and toll were given to them.
21 Now issue a decree to make those men stop, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me.
22 And beware of being negligent in doing this matter; why should harm increase to damage the kings?”
23 Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force and military.
24 Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Footnotes
Ezra 4
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Opposition to Rebuilding the Temple
4 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin(A) heard that the returned exiles[a](B) were building a temple for Yahweh, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the leaders of the families and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we also worship your God and have been sacrificing to Him[b] since the time King Esar-haddon of Assyria[c] brought us here.”(C)
3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other leaders of Israel’s families answered them, “You may have no part with us in building a house for our God,(D) since we alone must build it for Yahweh, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”(E) 4 Then the people who were already in the land[d] discouraged[e] the people of Judah and made them afraid(F) to build. 5 They also bribed officials to act against them to frustrate their plans(G) throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.[f](H)
Opposition to Rebuilding the City
6 At the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus,[g](I) the people who were already in the land[h](J) wrote an accusation against the residents of Judah and Jerusalem. 7 During the time of King Artaxerxes of Persia,[i](K) Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to King Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic(L) and translated.[j][k]
8 Rehum the chief deputy and Shimshai the scribe(M) wrote a letter to King Artaxerxes concerning Jerusalem as follows:
9 From Rehum[l] the chief deputy, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues—the judges and magistrates[m] from Tripolis, Persia, Erech, Babylon, Susa(N) (that is, the people of Elam),[n] 10 and the rest of the peoples whom the great and illustrious Ashurbanipal[o] deported and settled in the cities of Samaria(O) and the region west of the Euphrates River.(P)
11 This is the text of the letter they sent to him:
To King Artaxerxes from your servants, the men from the region west of the Euphrates River:
12 Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came from you have returned to us at Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and evil city, finishing its walls, and repairing its foundations. 13 Let it now be known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and its walls are finished,(Q) they will not pay tribute, duty, or land tax,(R) and the royal revenue[p] will suffer. 14 Since we have taken an oath of loyalty to the king,[q] and it is not right for us to witness his dishonor, we have sent to inform the king 15 that a search should be made in your fathers’ record books.(S) In these record books you will discover and verify that the city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces. There have been revolts in it since ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed. 16 We advise the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are finished, you will not have any possession west of the Euphrates.
Artaxerxes’ Reply
17 The king sent a reply to his chief deputy Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues living in Samaria and elsewhere in the region west of the Euphrates River:
Greetings.
18 The letter you sent us has been translated and read[r](T) in my presence. 19 I issued a decree and a search was conducted. It was discovered that this city has had uprisings against kings since ancient times, and there have been rebellions and revolts in it. 20 Powerful kings have also ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region, and tribute, duty, and land tax were paid to them. 21 Therefore, issue an order for these men to stop, so that this city will not be rebuilt until a further decree has been pronounced by me.(U) 22 See that you not neglect this matter. Otherwise, the damage will increase and the royal interests[s] will suffer.
23 As soon as the text of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read to Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues,(V) they immediately went to the Jews in Jerusalem and forcibly stopped them.
Rebuilding of the Temple Resumed
24 Now the construction of God’s house in Jerusalem had stopped and remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia.(W)
Footnotes
- Ezra 4:1 Lit the sons of the exile
- Ezra 4:2 Alt Hb tradition reads have not been sacrificing
- Ezra 4:2 Esar-haddon reigned 681–669 b.c.
- Ezra 4:4 Lit people of the land
- Ezra 4:4 Lit relaxed the hands of
- Ezra 4:5 Darius reigned 521–486 b.c.
- Ezra 4:6 = Xerxes; he reigned 486–465 b.c.
- Ezra 4:6 Lit people of the land
- Ezra 4:7 Artaxerxes reigned 465–425 b.c.
- Ezra 4:7 Lit translated. Aramaic:
- Ezra 4:7 Ezr 4:8–6:18 is written in Aram.
- Ezra 4:9 Lit Then Rehum
- Ezra 4:9 Or ambassadors
- Ezra 4:9 Aram obscure
- Ezra 4:10 Lit Osnappar
- Ezra 4:13 Aram obscure
- Ezra 4:14 Lit have eaten the salt of the palace
- Ezra 4:18 Or been read clearly
- Ezra 4:22 Lit the kings
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.