Ezra 4:11

Ezr 4:11 This [is] the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, [even] unto Artaxerxes the king; Thy servants the men on this side the river, and at such a time.

Ver. 11. Thy servants] Not thy subjects only, but thine officers.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:11-22 Ezra includes a copy in Aramaic of the letter sent to Artaxerxes and his reply.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. And at such a time.] The word וכענת ucheeneth has greatly perplexed all commentators and critics. The versions give us no light; and the Vulgate translates it et dicunt salutem, "and they wish prosperity." Some translate it and so forth; and our translators supposed that it referred to the date, which however is not specified, and might have been as easily entered as the words and at such a time.

In our first translation of the Bible, that by Coverdale, in 1535, the passage stands thus: "And other on this syde the water, and in Canaan."

In that by Becke, 1549, it is thus: "And other on this syde the water, and in Ceneeth:" and in the margin he enters "or peace," "or health."

In Cardmarden's Bible, printed at Rouen, 1566, it stands thus: "And other that are nowe on thys syde the water."

In that printed by Barker, 1615, we find the text thus: "AND OTHER that are beyond the river, and Cheeneth;" on which is the following marginal note: "To wit, Euphrates: and he meaneth in respect of Babel, that they dwelt beyond it." And the note on Cheeneth is, "Which were a certain people that envied the Jews." All this is merely guessing, in the midst of obscurity; most of these having considered the original word כענת Ceeneth as the name of a people; and in this they follow the Syriac, which uses the word Acaneth.

Calmet thinks we should read ובעת ubaeth, "and at this time; " as if they had said, "We wish thee to enjoy the same health and prosperity at all future times, which thou dost at present." This is not remote from the meaning of the Chaldee original.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(11) On this side the river.—Literally, beyond the river Euphrates, as written for the Persian court.

And at such a time.—Rather, and so forth; meaning, “Thy servants, as aforesaid,” alluding to the superscription.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. unto him, even unto Artaxerxes] R.V. unto Artaxerxes the king.

the men on this side the river] R.V. beyond the river. The A.V. does not recognize that the senders of the letter place themselves in the position of the recipient; the expression “beyond the river” applied to a country would to a Persian subject convey as distinct an idea of a particular district as ‘Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul’ would to a Roman subject whether living in Italy or Gaul.

and at such a time] R.V. ‘and so forth’, i.e. ‘et cætera’. See note on Ezr_4:10. Probably a long and wearisome salutation is thus briefly dispatched.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be it known unto the king,.... The intent of this letter was, that it might be known to the king what follows:

that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem; this they observe partly out of contempt of the Jews, having been lately captive in Babylon, and partly to insinuate what ingratitude they were guilty of; that having got their liberty, and come to Jerusalem, they made use of it to the king's detriment:

building the rebellious and the bad city; as they suggest it had been to kings, even his predecessors, in former times, Ezr 4:15

and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations; which was a falsehood; for the most they had done was setting up the walls of their houses in Jerusalem, and laying the foundation of the temple; as for the walls of the city, they had not as yet done anything unto them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Him. This is a gloss. (Calmet) --- Greeting. Protestants, "and at such a time."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

11. This is the copy — After this verse (Ezr_4:12-16) we seem to have an exact transcript of the substance of the letter that they sent. What precedes in Ezr_4:9-10 was a sort of paraphrase of the introduction to the letter. See note on Ezr_4:8.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This is the copy of the letter. The address having been given, the writer now proceeds to the contents of the letter. Thy servants the men on this side the river, etc. This was a sort of heading inside the letter a repetition in brief of the address.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Letter To Artaxerxes

v. 11. This is the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the king, at least a summary of the contents, if not an exact copy. Thy servants, the men on this side the river, and at such a time, that is, "and so forth," all the compliments of the introduction being omitted.

v. 12. Be it known unto the king that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, they had been returning from Babylon for a matter of some seventy years then, and small companies were still coming in from the East, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, on which they were still building, and joined the foundations, they were still excavating and working to strengthen the foundations.

v. 13. Be it known now unto the king that, if this city be builded and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, the individual poll-tax, tribute, property-tax, and custom, all import and export duties, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings, and so their action would finally prepare damage for the king.

v. 14. Now, because we have maintenance from the king’s palace, literally, "because with the salt of the palace we are salted," said of living on any one’s bounty, and it was not meet for to see the king’s dishonor, therefore have we sent and certified the king, making known to him the following facts, suggesting the following procedure,

v. 15. that search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers, this duty being performed by the keeper of the royal archives; so shalt thou find in the book of the records and know that this city is a rebellious city and hurtful unto kings and provinces, whose inhabitants are addicted to uproar and rebellions, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time; for which cause was this city destroyed.

v. 16. We certify the king that, if this city be builded again and the walls thereof set up, all its defenses finished as in the days of its greatest power, by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river, the implication being that the Jews would cause the entire territory south and west of the Euphrates to declare and maintain its independence.

v. 17. Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum, the chancellor, and to Shimshai, the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, all the communities of colonists, and unto the rest beyond the river, Peace, and at such a time, the usual complimentary remarks at the opening of a letter being omitted.

v. 18. The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me.

v. 19. And I commanded, by issuing a decree or edict, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection, rising up in haughty rebellion, against kings and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein.

v. 20. There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river, this being true of David and Solomon; and toll, tribute, and custom was paid unto them, all the surrounding countries being tributary to their kingdom at that time.

v. 21. Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until another commandment shall be given from me.

v. 22. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? They should make no mistake in averting this damage, since it might so easily grow to be a pest.

v. 23. Now, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai, the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews and made them to cease by force and power, evidently using even troops to enforce their demand. This excursus, showing to what extent the hostility of the Samaritans went and how long it lasted, was inserted for the sake of completeness in characterizing them. The author now returns to his history of the building of the Temple, the last verse of the chapter connecting with v. 5 above.

v. 24. Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. The foundation had been laid and the altar of burnt offering erected in its former place, but no more work was done. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia, 520 B. C. The false church is ever the enemy of the true Church and is continually striving to deprive it of its rights and liberties, in order to hinder the spread of the Gospel.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This is a copy

Ezra includes in his writing the content of the letter sent to King Artaxerxes.

the Province Beyond the River

This is the name of the province that was west of the Euphrates River. It was across the river from the city of Susa. See how you translated this in Esra 4:10. (See: How to Translate Names)

a rebellious city

The city is a metonym for the people who live in it. AT: "a city that they plan to live in and rebel against you" (See: Metonymy)

repaired the foundations

"fixed the foundations" or "mended the foundations"

translationWords

servant

Jew

Jerusalem

rebel

found

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

This is the meaning of the letter and this is the interpretation of the letter.

the meaning Aram. פַּרְשֶּׁגֶן like (Esther 3:14): “The meaning of (פַּתְשֶּׁגֶן) the writ.

that they sent to him [as translated,] that they sent to him.

to Artaxerxes [as translated,] to Artaxerxes.

Your servants are the people of the other side of the river and Ke’eneth The people of the other side of the river and the people of Ke’eneth are your servants. All the nations counted here are included in this generalization, for they were all on the side of the land of Israel, which is on the opposite side of the river of those dwelling in Babylon, and this is the beginning of the letter: “Your servants are the people of the other side of the river etc.” until, “...you will have no part.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.