Ezra 4:11

4:11 (This is a copy of the letter they sent to him:)

“To King Artaxerxes, ¹  from your servants in ²  Trans-Euphrates:

Ezra 7:20

7:20 The rest of the needs for the temple of your God that you may have to supply, ³  you may do so from the royal treasury.

Ezra 7:26

7:26 Everyone who does not observe both the law of your God and the law of the king will be completely ⁴  liable to the appropriate penalty, whether it is death or banishment or confiscation of property or detainment in prison.”

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¹ tn The Masoretic accents indicate that the phrase “to Artaxerxes the king” goes with what precedes and that the letter begins with the words “from your servants.” But it seems better to understand the letter to begin by identifying the addressee.

² tn Aram “men of.”

³ tn Aram “may fall to you to give.”

⁴ tn On the meaning of this word see HALOT 1820-21 s.v. אָסְפַּרְנָא; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 14.