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The Blue Letter Bible

Ezra 4 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:1

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:1 - Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Israel,

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:2

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:2 - they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:3

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:3 - But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:4

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:4 - Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:5

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:5 - and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:6

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:6 - And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:7

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:7 - In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:8

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:8 - Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows:

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:9

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:9 - Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites,

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:10

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:10 - and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:11

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:11 - (This is a copy of the letter that they sent.) “To Artaxerxes the king: Your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:12

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:12 - be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:13

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:13 - Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:14

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:14 - Now because we eat the salt of the palace[fn] and it is not fitting for us to witness the king’s dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king,

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:15

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:15 - in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:16

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:16 - We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”

The King Orders the Work to Cease

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:17

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:17 - The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:18

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:18 - the letter that you sent to us has been plainly read before me.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:19

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:19 - And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:20

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:20 - And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:21

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:21 - Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:22

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:22 - And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:23

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:23 - Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ezr 4:24

Unchecked Copy BoxEzr 4:24 - Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew written in Aramaic and translated in Aramaic, indicating that 4:8–6:18 is in Aramaic; another interpretation is The letter was written in the Aramaic script and set forth in the Aramaic language
Aramaic because the salt of the palace is our salt
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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Ezra Chapter 4 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras