5:3 At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority 2 to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” 3 5:4 They 4 also asked them, “What are the names of the men who are building this edifice?” 5:5 But God was watching over 5 the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped 6 until a report could be dispatched 7 to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.
5:6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and his colleagues who were the officials of Trans-Euphrates sent to King Darius.
1 tn Aram “arose and began.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a single concept.
2 tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.
3 tn The exact meaning of the Aramaic word אֻשַּׁרְנָא (’ussarna’) here and in v. 9 is uncertain (BDB 1083 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it to mean “wall.” Here it is used in collocation with בַּיְתָא (bayta’, “house” as the temple of God), while in 5:3, 9 it is used in parallelism with this term. It might be related to the Assyrian noun ashurru (“wall”) or ashru (“sanctuary”; so BDB). F. Rosenthal, who translates the word “furnishings,” thinks that it probably enters Aramaic from Persian (Grammar, 62-63, §189).
4 tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew
5 tn Aram “the eye of their God was on.” The idiom describes the attentive care that one exercises in behalf of the object of his concern.
6 tn Aram “they did not stop them.”
7 tn Aram “[could] go.” On this form see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 58, §169.