Discovery BoxEzra 4:16-17 
Context4:16 We therefore are informing the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, you will not retain control 1 of this portion of Trans-Euphrates.”
4:17 The king sent the following response:
“To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and other parts of Trans-Euphrates: Greetings! 2
Ezra 5:3
Context5:3 At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority 3 to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” 4
Ezra 7:21
Context7:21 “I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of 5 Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –
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.
1 tn Aram “will not be to you.”
2 tn Aram “peace.”
3 tn Aram “who placed to you a command?” So also v. 9.
4 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).
5 tn Aram “who are in.”
