Ezr 4:7 | NET2full | STEP | And during the reign of Artaxerxes , Bishlam , Mithredath , Tabeel , and the rest of their colleagues wrote to King Artaxerxes of Persia . This letter was first written in Aramaic but then translated . [What follows is in Aramaic .]

‏ Ezra 4:7

7 And during the reign ^{▼▼tn Heb “And in the days.”} of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, ^{▼▼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 textual variation of an original “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.} Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues ^{▼▼tc The translation reads the plural with the Qere rather than the singular found in the MT Kethib.} wrote to King Artaxerxes ^{▼▼sn Artaxerxes I ruled in Persia from ca. 465-425 b.c.} of Persia. This letter ^{▼▼tc It is preferable to delete the MT’s וּכְתָב (ukhetav) here.} was first written in Aramaic but then translated.

[What follows is in Aramaic.]