a4:18
b4:19-20
c2 Kgs 25:2
d4:21
eNeh 2:1-6
f4:23
gNeh 1:3
hEzra 4:6

‏ Ezra 4:17-23

4:18  a The letter was translated from Aramaic to Persian, the king’s native language.
Summary for Ezra 4:19-20: 4:19-20  b King Jehoiakim (609–598 BC) had rebelled against Babylon in about 601 BC, and King Zedekiah (597–586 BC) had rebelled in about 588 BC (see 2 Kgs 25:2  c).
4:21  d except at my express command: Work on the walls remained stopped until 445 BC, when Nehemiah, Artaxerxes’ cup-bearer, gained his permission to resume reconstruction (see Neh 2:1-6  e).
4:23  f A military unit probably forced the Jews to stop building and enforced the king’s wishes. Part of the rebuilt wall might have been torn down at this time (cp. Neh 1:3  g).

• This verse ends the parenthetical section that began in Ezra 4:6  h.
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