Discovery BoxEzra 1:5 
Context1:5 Then the leaders 1 of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites – all those whose mind God had stirred – got ready 2 to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. 3
Ezra 4:7
Context4:7 And during the reign 4 of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, 5 Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues 6 wrote to King Artaxerxes 7 of Persia. This letter 8 was first written in Aramaic but then translated.
[Aramaic:] 9
Ezra 5:1-2
Context5:1 Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son 10 of Iddo 11 prophesied concerning the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem 12 in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 5:2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak began 13 to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, supporting them.
Ezra 5:16
Context5:16 Then this Sheshbazzar went and laid the foundations of the temple of God in Jerusalem. From that time to the present moment 14 it has been in the process of being rebuilt, although it is not yet finished.’
Ezra 8:28
Context8:28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.
Ezra 8:30
Context8:30 Then the priests and the Levites took charge of 15 the silver, the gold, and the vessels that had been weighed out, to transport them to Jerusalem to the temple of our God.
Ezra 8:36
Context8:36 Then they presented the decrees of the king to the king’s satraps and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, who gave help to the people and to the temple of God.
Ezra 9:3
Context9:3 When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and my robe and ripped out some of the hair from my head and beard. Then I sat down, quite devastated.
Ezra 9:5
Context9:5 At the time of the evening offering I got up from my self-abasement, 16 with my tunic and robe torn, and then dropped to my knees and spread my hands to the Lord my God.
Ezra 10:2
Context10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, 17 addressed Ezra:
“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying 18 foreign women from the local peoples. 19 Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard. 20
Ezra 10:10
Context10:10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.
1 tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”
2 tn Heb “arose.”
3 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
4 tn Heb “And in the days.”
5 tn The LXX understands this word as a prepositional phrase (“in peace”) rather than as a proper name (“Bishlam”). Taken this way it would suggest that Mithredath was “in agreement with” the contents of Tabeel’s letter. Some scholars regard the word in the MT to be a corruption of either “in Jerusalem” (i.e., “in the matter of Jerusalem”) or “in the name of Jerusalem.” The translation adopted above follows the traditional understanding of the word as a name.
6 tc The translation reads the plural with the Qere rather than the singular found in the MT Kethib.
7 sn Artaxerxes I ruled in Persia from ca. 465–425
8 tc It is preferable to delete the MT’s וּכְתָב (ukhÿtav) here.
9 sn The double reference in v. 7 to the Aramaic language is difficult. It would not make sense to say that the letter was written in Aramaic and then translated into Aramaic. Some interpreters understand the verse to mean that the letter was written in the Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language, but this does not seem to give sufficient attention to the participle “translated” at the end of the verse. The second reference to Aramaic in the verse is more probably a gloss that calls attention to the fact that the following verses retain the Aramaic language of the letter in its original linguistic form. A similar reference to Aramaic occurs in Dan 2:4b, where the language of that book shifts from Hebrew to Aramaic. Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12-26 are written in Aramaic, whereas the rest of the book is written in Hebrew.
10 tn Aram “son.” According to Zech 1:1 he was actually the grandson of Iddo.
11 tn Aram “and Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo the prophet.”
12 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
13 tn Aram “arose and began.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a single concept.
14 tn Aram “from then and until now.”
15 tn Heb “received.”
16 tn The Hebrew word used here is a hapax legomenon. It refers to the self-abasement that accompanies religious sorrow and fasting.
17 tc The translation reads with the Qere, many medieval Hebrew
18 tn Heb “in that we have given a dwelling to.” So also in vv. 14, 17, 18.
19 tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”
20 tn Heb “upon this.”
