Ezra 4:7-10

7 And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated ¹from Aramaic.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

8 Rehum the commander * and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows -

9 then wrote Rehum the commander * and Shimshai the scribe and ²the rest of their colleagues, the judges and ³the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites,

10 and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the River. ⁴Now

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Ezra 4:7-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 4

The contents of this chapter are the offer the Samaritans made to the Jews, to assist them in building the temple, which having refused, they gave them all the trouble they could, Ezr 4:1-6 and a letter of theirs to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, full of accusations of them, Ezr 4:7-16 and the answer of Artaxerxes to it, giving orders to command the Jews to cease building the temple, Ezr 4:17-22 which orders were accordingly executed, and the work ceased till the second year of Darius, Ezr 4:23,24.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 4

1. 2 Kings 18:26; Daniel 2:4
2. 2 Kings 17:24
3. Ezra 5:6; Ezra 6:6
4. Ezra 4:11, 17; Ezra 7:12

Footnotes 5

[a]. Heb "Artah-shashta"
[b]. Lit "writing"
[c]. Ch 4:8-6:18 is in Aram
[d]. I.e. probably Ashurbanipal
[e]. I.e. Euphrates River, and so throughout the ch