Ezra 7:11-13

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Ezra 7:11 tn Heb “this.”
2. Ezra 7:11 tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.” So also in v. 21.
3. Ezra 7:11 tn The words “Ezra was” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
4. Ezra 7:12 sn Ezra 7:12-26 is written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew.
5. Ezra 7:12 tn The verse ends with גְּמִיר וּכְעֶנֶת (g^emir ukh^eʿenet) meaning “completed and now” or “perfect and now.” Some take the masculine form גְּמִיר (gemir) to apply to Ezra, as an expert scribe (Youngs, Holman, Darby). Many others take it as an abbreviated greeting “perfect (peace)” (KJV, NASB, ESV). Some simply render “Greetings” (NIV). The second term “and now” is understood either as beginning the letter’s text, i.e., that it belongs in the next verse (ESV), or as a form of “et cetera” meaning that the full introduction, whether of Ezra’s titles or of a lengthier list of greetings was deliberately omitted as extraneous to Ezra’s purposes here. The LXX interprets it as an introduction, “the message and answer are completed.”
6. Ezra 7:13 tn Heb “from me is placed a decree.” So also in v. 21.