Ezra 4:13
4:13 Let the king also be aware that if this city is built and its walls are completed, no more tax, custom, or toll will be paid, and the royal treasury 1 will suffer loss.
Ezra 7:24
7:24 Furthermore, be aware of the fact 2 that you have no authority to impose tax, tribute, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the musicians, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or the attendants at the temple of this God.
Ezra 8:15
The Exiles Travel to Jerusalem
8:15 I had them assemble 3 at the canal 4 that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there for three days. I observed that the people and the priests were present, but I found no Levites there.
Ezra 9:14-15
9:14 Shall we once again break your commandments and intermarry with these abominable peoples? Would you not be so angered by us that you would wipe us out, with no survivor or remnant?
9:15 O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day. Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt. However, because of this guilt 5 no one can really stand before you.”
1 tn Aram “the treasury of kings.” The plural “kings” is Hebrew, not Aramaic. If the plural is intended in a numerical sense the reference is not just to Artaxerxes but to his successors as well. Some scholars understand this to be the plural of majesty, referring to Artaxerxes. See F. C. Fensham, Ezra and Nehemiah (NICOT), 74.
2 tn Aram “we are making known to you.”
3 tn Or “I gathered them.”
4 tn Heb “river.” So also in vv. 21, 31.
5 tn Heb “this”; the referent (the guilt mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.