7:1 VE ACHAR HA DEVARIM HA ELEH BE MALCHUT ARTACHSHAST' MELECH PARAS EZRA BEN SERA-YAH BEN AZAR-YAH BEN CHILKI-YAH
וְאַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה בְּמַלְכוּת אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא מֶלֶךְ פָּרָס עֶזְרָא בֶּן שְׂרָיָה בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה בֶּן חִלְקִיָּה
KJ (King James translation): Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
BN (BibleNet translation): After all these things had taken place, in the reign of Artachshast', king of Paras, Ezra ben Sera-Yah ben Azar-Yah ben Chilki-Yah...
VE ACHAR HA DEVARIM: The precise time is not given, but we can calculate it, as we know he came to the throne in 465 BCE... see verse 6.
The text now continues in Yehudit (Hebrew), with two exceptions: the names of both King Artachshast' (Artaxerxes 1) and Ezra the scribe are given in Aramit (Aramaic). Using my phonetic-transliteration system fastidiously, I should really be going back and correcting my mis-spelling of Ezra's name, adding an apostrophe before the A, because we have just learned that Ezr'a was his name in Aramaic, whereas in Yehudit it would probably have been his grandfather's name, Azar-Yah, shortened in the way that David becomes Dave in English. I shall therefore follow the convention established in the previous chapters, and use this phonetic of the spelling whenever his name is given in Aramit, but only then.
ARTACHSHAST': Previously he has been written down as Artachsast'a, with a patach rather than a sheva below the the Tav - see my note to Ezra 4:7.
ARTACHSHAST': Previously he has been written down as Artachsast'a, with a patach rather than a sheva below the the Tav - see my note to Ezra 4:7.
BEN SERA-YAH BEN AZAR-YAH BEN CHILKI-YAH: Note again the preponderance of Yah names, and this one quite specifically in a priestly genealogical table! The point is to establish Ezra's credentials as the scion of an extremely distinguished family.
Is Ezra speaking about himself in the 3rd person? And if so, was the previous narrator not Ezra afer all? It certainly reads like Ezra speaking. And if not, does that change our reading of the text, or of the man?
7:2 BEN SHALUM BEN TSADOK BEN ACHI-TUV
KJ: The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
בֶּן שַׁלּוּם בֶּן צָדוֹק בֶּן אֲחִיטוּב
KJ: The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
BN: Ben Shalum ben Tsadok ben Achi-Tuv...
BEN SHALUM: Yet another of the "SALM" names, bestowing not just a pedigree, but a lineage bound to the city.
BEN TSADOK: And even more so with Tsadok, the very first Kohen Gadol under King David, carrying forward the ancientness of both ADONI-TSEDEK and MALKI-TSEDEK, associated with Yeru-Shala'im. The word Sadducee also comes from TSADOK, though in that case it is a later TSADOK, post-Ezra.
BEN ACHI-TUV: see the link.
7:3 BEN AMAR-YAH VEN AZAR-YAH BEN MERAYOT
בֶּן אֲמַרְיָה בֶן עֲזַרְיָה בֶּן מְרָיוֹת
KJ: The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
BN: Ben Amar-Yah ben Azar-Yah, ben Merayot...
BEN AMAR-YAH VEN AZAR-YAH BEN MERAYOT: On this occasion, and several to follow, the second Ben is rendered as Ven, exactly as we saw with the list of the groups arriving from Paras with Zeru-Bavel in chapter 2:43 ff. Once again I have no explanation of this ungrammatical oddity. And when there are four names, as in verse 5, it isn't so.
7:4 BEN ZERACH-YAH VEN UZI BEN BUKI
בֶּן זְרַחְיָה בֶן עֻזִּי בֶּן בֻּקִּי
KJ: The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
BN: Ben Zerach-Yah ben Uzi ben Buki...
7:5 BEN AVI-SHU'A BEN PINCHAS BEN EL-AZAR BEN AHARON HA KOHEN HA ROSH
BN: Ben Avi-Shu'a ben Pinchas ben El-Azar ben Aharon the chief priest.
בֶּן אֲבִישׁוּעַ בֶּן פִּינְחָס בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן הָרֹאשׁ
KJ: The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:
BN: Ben Avi-Shu'a ben Pinchas ben El-Azar ben Aharon the chief priest.
Which leaves on Mosheh and YHVH, and perhaps the future Messiah - but the statement of authority implies all three, so it is as authoritative as any man could ever claim. Or try to. And it really is a very good try, but even this is not enough names on the pedigree list to get back as far as Aharon! If every generation is twenty-five years - which may be generous in those days; people were parenting in their teens, not 20s - and we can count here 14 generations before Aharon, that is barely enough to get half-way back to King David, let alone the extra three to four hundred years to High Priest Aharon. But look at those names - some of the key figures in Beney Yisra-El history...
BEN AVI-SHU'A BEN PINCHAS BEN EL-AZAR BEN AHARON:
HA KOHEN HA ROSH: As opposed to HA KOHEN HA GADOL, which would be the High Priest. As with the Ber'eshit itself, this is "The Primal Kohen", Numero Uno, the first ever.
7:6 HU EZRA ALAH MI BAVEL VE HU SOPHER MAHIR BE TORAT MOSHEH ASHER NATAN YHVH ELOHEY YISRA-EL VA YITEN LO HA MELECH KE YAD YHVH ELOHAV ALAV KOL BAKASHATO
הוּא עֶזְרָא עָלָה מִבָּבֶל וְהוּא סֹפֵר מָהִיר בְּתוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה אֲשֶׁר נָתַן יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּתֶּן לוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ כְּיַד יְהוָה אֱלֹהָיו עָלָיו כֹּל
KJ: This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.
BN: This Ezra went up from Bavel; he was a trained scribe in the Law of Mosheh, which YHVH, the god of Yisra-El, had given; and the king granted the whole of his request, made in the name of YHVH his god, in whose name he had been ordained.
Interesting to learn that Ezra was already a Torah scribe - and the point about the YAD YHVH is that he was also an anointed priest, though we had deduced that anyway from the Kohanic pedigree (and will confirm it in verse 11) - which infers that the Torah was already being written down, if not actually written, in Bavel (Babylon), and that he brought it with him to Yeru-Shala'im. The how and why of this, if it is to be taken at face value, needs rather more commentary; we shall undertake it as the text progresses.
SOPHER MAHIR: "Mahir" really does mean "quick, but I think it is intended to describe the scale of his broader expertise, rather than the mere speed of his calligraphy.
"HU EZRA" means that someone else must have been writing this... see v27 for the formal change to the 1st person, though I suspect that it really has been Ezra all along, only he felt the need to step humbly back and pretend objectivity, rather than be accused of vanity and even arrogance in the opening verses of this chapter.
BAKASHATO: Before we read on, and hear about Aliyah Bet from Babylon, we need to fill in a rather surprising gap that Ezra has left out in the narrative, but which is implicit in the "request" that the king grants:
Persian control of Yehudah was only one tiny corner of the empire created by Cyrus II and Cambyses II, which stretched from the Indus valley to the Aegean Sea. By 546 BCE they had begun to overthrow the Greek cities in Anatolia, but in 500 the beginning of serious resistance changed the pattern. Darius launched a war on the Greek mainland itself in 492, then took his fleet into the Mediterranean to Medeanise the rest of Europe - only a storm forced him to retreat with what was left of his navy. Two years later he tried again, attacking the Greeks at Marathon - and famously losing. Ten years futher on, successor Xerxes tried again at Thermopylae - and lost again (I am doing this briefly; you can read the full account here).BN: This Ezra went up from Bavel; he was a trained scribe in the Law of Mosheh, which YHVH, the god of Yisra-El, had given; and the king granted the whole of his request, made in the name of YHVH his god, in whose name he had been ordained.
Interesting to learn that Ezra was already a Torah scribe - and the point about the YAD YHVH is that he was also an anointed priest, though we had deduced that anyway from the Kohanic pedigree (and will confirm it in verse 11) - which infers that the Torah was already being written down, if not actually written, in Bavel (Babylon), and that he brought it with him to Yeru-Shala'im. The how and why of this, if it is to be taken at face value, needs rather more commentary; we shall undertake it as the text progresses.
SOPHER MAHIR: "Mahir" really does mean "quick, but I think it is intended to describe the scale of his broader expertise, rather than the mere speed of his calligraphy.
"HU EZRA" means that someone else must have been writing this... see v27 for the formal change to the 1st person, though I suspect that it really has been Ezra all along, only he felt the need to step humbly back and pretend objectivity, rather than be accused of vanity and even arrogance in the opening verses of this chapter.
BAKASHATO: Before we read on, and hear about Aliyah Bet from Babylon, we need to fill in a rather surprising gap that Ezra has left out in the narrative, but which is implicit in the "request" that the king grants:
In 479 the Greeks fought the Persians at Plataea, driving them from the Greek mainland, and then pursuing then across the Ionian Sea. Their allies - Samaritans, Ammonites and Arabs - destroyed the city walls of Yeru-Shala'im which Zeru-Bavel had so lovingly restored, and Yehudan control of Yeru-Shala'im was, to say the least, under extreme threat.
By the time that Artachshast'a came to the throne in 465 BCE, the balance of power had changed radically, the once supreme Medean empire now seriously threatened by a Greece that was rejoicing in memories of "The Iliad", and yearning to repeat them. Under the leadership of Athens, the Delian League began the slow process of liberating the Ionian city-states along the Anatolian coast, culminating in the "Peace of Callias" which was signed with Artachsast'a in 449 BCE.
So we can now fill in the gap, and answer the question: what was the BAKASHATO that Artachsast'a wholeheartedly supported: "Your Majesty, let me go to Yeru-Shelem, with an army if possible, and rebuild those walls as fast as possible, and secure the city for you, for otherwise..."
The text that follows fills in the remainder, Artachshast'a sending Ezra from Persia in "the seventh year of his reign" according to verse 7, 458 BCE, and Ezra and his associates rebuilding them in just fifty-two days⭐. After which Ezra will order the deportation of all foreign wives and children, impose a rigid orthodoxy and ethnic purity upon the people, insist on strict worship of Elohim (now under the name YHVH, and exclusively a male sky-god), respect for laws, and the reading of the Torah twice weekly in the market-place - it was in Ezra's time that the Torah was finally written down, and it is the Ezraic Redaction through which we know the Yehudit Tanach (Bible). The proto-Jews were now firmly two people, those in the "yishuv", the homeland, in Yehudah, and those in the Diaspora. But I am jumping ahead.
⭐This however conflicts with the version told in Nechem-Yah, where it is he, not Ezra, who is sent by Artachshast'a to rebuild the city walls. Based on the Ezra version, there is also a thirteen year gap between his arrival and Nechem-Yah's, the latter only coming in 445 BCE. A full analysis of these conflicts, with still more detail of the history of this period, can be found here.
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7:7 VA YA'ALU MIBNEY YISRA-EL U MIN HA KOHANIM VE HA LEVIYIM VE HA MESHORERIM VE HA SHO'ARIM VE HA NETIYNIM EL YERU-SHALA'IM BISHNAT SHEVA LE ARTACHSHAST' HA MELECH
וַיַּעֲלוּ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמִן הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם וְהַמְשֹׁרְרִים וְהַשֹּׁעֲרִים וְהַנְּתִינִים אֶל יְרוּשָׁלִָם בִּשְׁנַת שֶׁבַע לְאַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא הַמֶּלֶךְ
KJ: And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
BN: And some of the Beney Yisra-El made Aliyah, from among the Kohanim, the Leviyim, the singers, the porters, and the other Temple professionals, to Yeru-Shala'im, in the seventh year of King Artachshast'.
YERU-SHALA'IM: With the return to Yehudit, the spelling of Jerusalem also changes, though perhaps still not to Yeru-Shalayim - there is much dispute among the scholars over the existence or otherwise of a chirik, a single dot, pronounced as the "i" in "in", under the mem sufit, the final letter of of the word - which is why, if you look at the text, you will see that the chirik is placed right-of-centre in most Yehudit versions. So possibly YERU-SHALAM.
NETINIM: Why are all the others translated but this left in the Yehudit? Don't the scholars know what the Netinim did? See my notes to Ezra 2:43 ff.
7:8 VA YAV'O YERU-SHALAM BA CHODESH HA CHAMISHI HI SHENAT HA SHEVIYIT LA MELECH
וַיָּבֹא יְרוּשָׁלִַם בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַחֲמִישִׁי הִיא שְׁנַת הַשְּׁבִיעִית לַמֶּלֶךְ
KJ: And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
BN: And he came to Yeru-Shala'im in the fifth month, which was the seventh year of the king.
Despite the Aleph ending, YAVO is Yehudit, not Aramit.
7:9 KI BE ECHAD LA CHODESH HA RI'SHON HU YESUD HA MA'ALAH MI BAVEL U VE ECHAD LA CHODESH HA CHAMISHI BA EL YERU-SHALA'IM KE YAD ELOHAV HA TOVAH ALAV
כִּי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן הוּא יְסֻד הַמַּעֲלָה מִבָּבֶל וּבְאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַחֲמִישִׁי בָּא אֶל יְרוּשָׁלִַם כְּיַד אֱלֹהָיו הַטּוֹבָה עָלָיו
KJ: For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.
BN: Now on the first day of the first month he began his journey from Bavel, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived in Yeru-Shala'im, with the good hand of his god upon him.
Four months to get from Bav-El to Yeru-Shala'im! Even with "the good hand of his god upon him" which phrase - KE YAD ELOHAV HA TOVAH ALAV - I take to be an idiom for "praise be to god": today we would say "Baruch ha Shem".
7:10 KI EZRA HECHIN LEVAVO LIDROSH ET TORAT YHVH VE LA'ASOT U LELAMED BE YISRA-EL CHOK U MISHPAT
כִּי עֶזְרָא הֵכִין לְבָבוֹ לִדְרֹשׁ אֶת תּוֹרַת יְהוָה וְלַעֲשֹׂת וּלְלַמֵּד בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל חֹק וּמִשְׁפָּט
KJ: For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
BN: For Ezra had set his heart upon studying the law of YHVH, and living by it, and teaching its statutes and ordinances in Yisra-El.
HECHIN LEVAVO: Not a straightforward idiom this. Prepared his heart? Set his heart? But the Lev was the seat of thought, not of emotion, in those days - so was this an intellectual or a spiritual aspiration? We have to set the phrase in its context, and what follows provides it: LIDROSH ET TORAT YHVH. Today a Drash'a would be a teaching lesson or a sermon, educational in some form, just as LELAMED in the next phrase, though the latter is more formal in a classrom, Beit Midrash or Yeshiva. But the inference, as previously, is that he was already learned in Torah, and wanted to share that knowledge back in the Yishuv - which then requires us to ask again: how much Torah was already written, and in what form?
Neither of the verses that deal with this have mentioned any text beyond Torah; we are safe in reckoning that Ezra did not start this until he got to Yehudah - but let's wait and see.
LA'ASOT U LELAMED: Properly grammatical, there should be a preposition after each of these: LA'ASOTO U LELAMEDO
CHOK U MISHPAT: An important distinction that needs explaining (basically one is the law as written, the other Rabbinic or priestly interpretation of the text); but this comment also needs an explanation of MITZVOT, because that word comes up in the next verse.
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7:11 VE ZEH PARSHEGEN HA NISHTEVAN ASHER NATAN HA MELECH ARTACHSHAST' LE EZRA HA KOHEN HA SOPHER SOPHER DIVREY MITSOT [MITSVOT] YHVH VE CHUKAV AL YISRA-EL
וְזֶה פַּרְשֶׁגֶן הַנִּשְׁתְּוָן אֲשֶׁר נָתַן הַמֶּלֶךְ אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא לְעֶזְרָא הַכֹּהֵן הַסֹּפֵר סֹפֵר דִּבְרֵי מִצְוֺת יְהוָה וְחֻקָּיו עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל
KJ: Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.
BN: Now this is the copy of the letter that king Artachshast' gave to Ezra the Kohen and scribe, the scribe of the words of the commandments of YHVH, and of his statutes, to Yisra-El:
At which point our text goes back into Aramit.
MITSOT: The Masoretic pointing makes this MITSOT, but the word is obviously MITSVOT - the trouble being that Masoretic pointing doesn't allow a double Vav, and the dot above the single Vav (the technical term is cholem) indicates an "o" sound. I have therefore added MITSVOT in a square bracket, though it is not there in any Yehudit text that you may look at. (see also Ezra 9:10, which does include the cholem).
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7:12 ARTACHSHAST' MELECH MALCHAY'A LE EZR'A CHAHAN'A SAPHAR DAT'A DI ELAH SHEMAY'A GEMIR U CHE'ENET
אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא מֶלֶךְ מַלְכַיָּא לְעֶזְרָא כָהֲנָא סָפַר דָּתָא דִּי אֱלָהּ שְׁמַיָּא גְּמִיר וּכְעֶנֶת
KJ: Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time.
BN: "Artachshast', king of kings, to Ezr'a the priest, the scribe of the Law of the god of the heavens, and so on, and so forth...
Is this sentence in Yehudit or Aramit? It appears to be a mix of both: MELECH - MALCHAY'A for example. I have used the Aramaic spelling of Ezr'a.
ELAH: As opposed to Elah'a which we have encountered previously - this I believe may be the masculine form, where the other was feminine, itself an interesting piece of information about the beliefs of the Yehudim at that time.
Kings don't generally write personal letters to subjects, especially ones who belong to a minority caste of someone else's former conquest-victims, so we can assume that the status of the Yehudim had continued to grow since Zeru-Bavel's time, and that Ezra was a person of some significance.
GEMIR U CHE'ENET: Every time we have something from one of the Medean kings, this phrase is used to end the verse. It feels like a verbal tic, but presumably it was either some kind of formal royal expressio, or, much more likely, it was Ezra the scribe just not being able to be bothered to write down all the formal stuff that actually followed.
7:13 MINI SIYM TE'EM DI CHOL MITNADAV BE MALCHUTI MIN AMAH YISRA-EL VE CHAHANOHI VE LEVAY'E LIMHACH LIYRUSHLEM IMACH YEHACH
מִנִּי שִׂים טְעֵם דִּי כָל מִתְנַדַּב בְּמַלְכוּתִי מִן עַמָּא יִשְׂרָאֵל וְכָהֲנוֹהִי וְלֵוָיֵא לִמְהָךְ לִירוּשְׁלֶם עִמָּךְ יְהָךְ
KJ: I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
BN: "I hereby decree that all those in my realm from among the people of Yisra-El, and their priests and their Levites, who are minded of their own free will to go with you to Yerushlem, that they may go...
YISRA-EL: I am sightly surprised to find the king speaking of these people as Yisra-El, rather than Yehudim - though we have encountered the word once before in this book. Verse 14 uses Yehud for the place, rather than Yehudah, which we have also seen previously.
MITNADAV: "minded of their own free will" is not what it actually says here, though I believe that it conveys the meaning. The word, which is Yehudit and not Aramaic, and therefore probably not the one the king used, means "to give oneself generously" and is used for volunteering - indeed, it was used earlier in the book for those who funded the rebuilt altar (Ezra 2:68), and will be again for the king's own donation, in verse 15. But the context was different there, and I wonder (KJ offers the same translation, so I wonder if they wondered the same, but suspect not) if the king had a sense that the religiously very committed, like Ezra, have a tendency to impose and coerce, and therefore "minded of their own free will" becomes more than a generosity in their souls.
7:14 KOL KAVEL DI MIN KADAM MALK'A VE SHIV'AT YA'ATOHI SHELIYACH LEVAKARAH AL YEHUD VE LIYRUSHLEM BE DAT ELAHACH DI VIYDACH
כָּל קֳבֵל דִּי מִן קֳדָם מַלְכָּא וְשִׁבְעַת יָעֲטֹהִי שְׁלִיחַ לְבַקָּרָה עַל יְהוּד וְלִירוּשְׁלֶם בְּדָת אֱלָהָךְ דִּי בִידָךְ
KJ: Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand;
BN: "Whereas you are sent by the king and his seven counsellors, to take charge of the situation in Yehud and Yerushlem, according to the law of your god, which is in your hand...
KOL KAVEL: I am unable to resist translating this as "whereas" (Biblehub agrees with me; click here), in the American legal form of that term; it is not quite as unequivocal as the Sefaria translation (click here), but certainly tending in that direction. Ezra goes as an ambassador (SHELIYACH) of the Persian king first, as a priest of YHVH only second, and maintaining Yerushlem within the Persian empire at this difficult moment of history is something for which Artachshast' is prepared to yield on theology.
LEVAKARAH: Different translators take very different views of this word. The Sefaria text referenced above goes for "regulate", which gives gubernatorial power to Ezra. The Study Bible (click here) prefers "evaluate", which keeps secular power firmly in Babylon, though the distance is sufficient that the king will not be worried about what Ezra does without specific permission on the religious level. Biblehub, in the text referenced above, perfers "inquire", but I don't think that meets the full BAKASHATO of verse 6. My choice of "take charge of" isn't satisfactory either, but is as near as I can get to the balance of secular and theological, bearing in mind the checks and balances implicit in the latter part of the verse.
7:15 U LE HEYVALAH KESAPH U DEHAV DI MALK'A VE YA'ATOHI HITNADAVU LE ELAH YISRA-EL DI VIYRUSHLEM MISHKENEH
וּלְהֵיבָלָה כְּסַף וּדְהַב דִּי מַלְכָּא וְיָעֲטוֹהִי הִתְנַדַּבוּ לֶאֱלָהּ יִשְׂרָאֵל דִּי בִירוּשְׁלֶם מִשְׁכְּנֵהּ
KJ: And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem.
BN: "And to transport the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have donated to the god of Yisra-El, whose habitation is in Yerushlem...
MISHKENEH: His dwelling-place, which is to say "the Mishkan"; the word clearly selected here quite deliberately, hinting at the sacrifices that will be described in the following verses.
7:16 VE CHOL KESAPH U DEHAV DI TEHASHKACH BE CHOL MEDIYNAT BAVEL IM HITNADAVUT AM'A VE CHAHANAY'A MITNADVIN LE VEIT ELAH'HAHOM DI VIYRUSHLEM
וְכֹל כְּסַף וּדְהַב דִּי תְהַשְׁכַּח בְּכֹל מְדִינַת בָּבֶל עִם הִתְנַדָּבוּת עַמָּא וְכָהֲנַיָּא מִתְנַדְּבִין לְבֵית אֱלָהֲהֹם דִּי בִירוּשְׁלֶם
KJ: And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem:
BN: "And all the silver and gold that you can find throughout the province of Bavel, donated freely by the people, and by the priests, freewill offerings willingly for the house of their god which is in Yerushlem...
Again this appears to echo, or perhaps this is the source of the made-up story, of the Egyptians providing for the fleeing Beney Yisra-El under Mosheh in Exodus 12:35.
IM HITNADVUT: The same word as above, but yet again the meaning is subtly different. Still voluntary, but this is an official fund-raiser, crowd-sourcing biblical style!
7:17 KOL KAVEL DENAH ASPARN'A TIKN'E BE CHASP'A DENAH TORIN DICHRIN IMRIN U MINCHAT'HON VE NISKEYHON U TEKAREV HIMO AL MADBECHAH DI BEIT ELAHACHOM DI VIYRUSHLEM
כָּל קֳבֵל דְּנָה אָסְפַּרְנָא תִקְנֵא בְּכַסְפָּא דְנָה תּוֹרִין דִּכְרִין אִמְּרִין וּמִנְחָתְהוֹן וְנִסְכֵּיהוֹן וּתְקָרֵב הִמּוֹ עַל מַדְבְּחָה דִּי בֵּית אֱלָהֲכֹם דִּי בִירוּשְׁלֶם
KJ: That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
BN: "So that you may, with all diligence, acquire with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meal-offerings and their drink-offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your god which is in Yerushlem...
The Medeans were followers of Zoroaster, and it is not common to find devotees of one religion quite so openly supportive of the aderents to a different one.
7:18 U MAH DI ALAYICH (ALACH) VE AL ACHIYCHA (ECHACH) YEYTAV BI SHE'AR KASP'A VE DAHAVAH LE ME'BAD KIR'UT ELAHACHOM TA'AVDUN
וּמָה דִי עליך (עֲלָךְ) וְעַל אחיך (אֶחָךְ) יֵיטַב בִּשְׁאָר כַּסְפָּא וְדַהֲבָה לְמֶעְבַּד כִּרְעוּת אֱלָהֲכֹם תַּעַבְדוּן
KJ: And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.
BN: "And whatsoever shall seem good to you, and to your brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do it according to the will of your god...
What is bracketed looks like it's the Aramit, where the main text is Yehudit. Who changed it? The Masoretes? The Poncteur?
7:19 U MA'NAY'A DI MIT'YAHAVIN LACH LE PHALCHAN BEIT ELAHACH HASHLEM KADAM ELAH YERUSHLEM
וּמָאנַיָּא דִּי מִתְיַהֲבִין לָךְ לְפָלְחָן בֵּית אֱלָהָךְ הַשְׁלֵם קֳדָם אֱלָהּ יְרוּשְׁלֶם
KJ: The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem.
BN: "And the vessels that have been given to you for the service of the house of your god, deliver them before the god of Yerushlem...
7:20 U SHE'AR CHASHCHUT BEIT ELAHACH DI YIPEL LACH LE MINTAN TINTEN MIN BEIT GINZEY MALK'A
וּשְׁאָר חַשְׁחוּת בֵּית אֱלָהָךְ דִּי יִפֶּל לָךְ לְמִנְתַּן תִּנְתֵּן מִן בֵּית גִּנְזֵי מַלְכָּא
KJ: And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house.
BN: "And whatever else shall be needed for the house of your god, which you shall have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasury...
GINZEY: see my previous notes on this (Ezra 5:17 and 6:1), though on this occasion it is clearly the Treasury that is intended (and a Treasury is not the same thing as a treasure-house, even if the root of both terms is identical).
7:21 U MINI ANAH ARTACHSHAST' MALK'A SIM TE'EM LE CHOL GIZAVRAY'A DI BA AVAR NAHARAH DI CHOL DI YISH'ALEN'CHON EZR'A CHAHAN'A SAPHAR DAT'A DI ELAH SHEMAY'A ASPARN'A YITAVID
וּמִנִּי אֲנָה אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא מַלְכָּא שִׂים טְעֵם לְכֹל גִּזַּבְרַיָּא דִּי בַּעֲבַר נַהֲרָה דִּי כָל דִּי יִשְׁאֲלֶנְכוֹן עֶזְרָא כָהֲנָא סָפַר דָּתָא דִּי אֱלָהּ שְׁמַיָּא אָסְפַּרְנָא יִתְעֲבִד
KJ: And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,
BN: "And I, even I, King Artachshast', do issue a decree to all the treasurers that are beyond the River, that whatever Ezr'a the priest, the scribe of the Law of the god of the heavens, shall require of you, it be done with all diligence...
Which now allows us to add serious weight to the conviction that Ezra was already writing down the Torah before he ever left Bavel. How would this have worked? Something instigated by Chagai or Zechar-Yah perhaps, before they left Bavel with Zeru-Bavel, because in the absence of a king the Prophet was the man-in-charge? Or did the Kohanim manage to bring documents with them, hidden in their clothing even, and began the copying in secret in order to keep the faith alive? Or proto-Mizrachic Judaism, remembering that it was in Babylon that the Talmud would be started, from Babylon that Rabbi Hillel would come to Yisra-El to begin the processes that would lead to the Talmud Yeru-Shalmi of Yavneh. We are not yet in the age of the Rabbis, but perhaps proto-Rabbis, a new Guild, recognising, as Yochan ben Zakkai would when the Second Temple was destroyed in 70CE, that a substitute was needed, and in his case Yavneh and Talmudic Judaism did the job. Did proto-Judaism survive in Babylonian exile for the same reason: the writing down of the unwritten and supposedly unwritable Law, extended later into the full Tanach? It seems entirely plausible - and the commitment of the Medean kings from the very beginning adds weight. It is the religious commitment of Zeru-Bavel, and later of Ezra and Nechem-Yah, not their political independence struggle, that the Medean kings are supporting.
7:22 AD KESAPH KAKRIN ME'AH VE AD CHINTIN KORIN ME'AH VE AD CHAMAR BATIN ME'AH VE AD BATIN MESHACH ME'AH U MELACH DI LA CHETAV
עַד כְּסַף כַּכְּרִין מְאָה וְעַד חִנְטִין כּוֹרִין מְאָה וְעַד חֲמַר בַּתִּין מְאָה וְעַד בַּתִּין מְשַׁח מְאָה וּמְלַח דִּי לָא כְתָב
KJ: Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
BN: "Up to a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much...
7:23 KAL DI MIN TA'AM ELAH SHEMAY'A YIT'AVED ADRAZD'A LE VEIT ELAH SHEMAY'A DI LEMAH LEHEV'E KETSAPH AL MALCHUT MALK'A U VENOHI
כָּל דִּי מִן טַעַם אֱלָהּ שְׁמַיָּא יִתְעֲבֵד אַדְרַזְדָּא לְבֵית אֱלָהּ שְׁמַיָּא דִּי לְמָה לֶהֱוֵא קְצַף עַל מַלְכוּת מַלְכָּא וּבְנוֹהִי
KJ: Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
BN: "Whatever is commanded by the god of the heavens, let it be done precisely for the house of the god of the heavens; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?..
TA'AM: the same word used (TE'EM) for the edicts of the king.
7:24 U LECHOM MEHOD'IN DI CHAL KAHANAY'A VE LEVAY'E ZAMARAY'A TARA'AY'A NETIYNAY'A U PHALCHEY BEIT ELAH'A DENAH MINDAH VE LO VA HALACH LA SHALIT LE MIRM'E ALEYHOM
וּלְכֹם מְהוֹדְעִין דִּי כָל כָּהֲנַיָּא וְלֵוָיֵא זַמָּרַיָּא תָרָעַיָּא נְתִינַיָּא וּפָלְחֵי בֵּית אֱלָהָא דְנָה מִנְדָּה בְלוֹ וַהֲלָךְ לָא שַׁלִּיט לְמִרְמֵא עֲלֵיהֹם
KJ: Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them.
BN: "And in addition we make this announcement to you, that, in respect of the Kahanay'a and Levay'e, the singers, porters, Temple professionals, and any servants of this house of Elah'a, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, impost, or toll, upon them...
7:25 VE ANT EZR'A KE CHACHMAT ELAHACH DI VIY'DACH MENI SHAPHTIN VE DAYANIN DI LEHEVON DAYENIN LE CHAL AM'A DI BA AVAR NAHARAH LE CHAL YAD'EY DATEY ELAHACH VE DI LA YAD'A TEHOD'UN
וְאַנְתְּ עֶזְרָא כְּחָכְמַת אֱלָהָךְ דִּי בִידָךְ מֶנִּי שָׁפְטִין וְדַיָּנִין דִּי לֶהֱוֺן דאנין (דָּיְנִין) לְכָל עַמָּא דִּי בַּעֲבַר נַהֲרָה לְכָל יָדְעֵי דָּתֵי אֱלָהָךְ וְדִי לָא יָדַע תְּהוֹדְעוּן
KJ: And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that arebeyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not.
BN: "And you, Ezr'a, according to the wisdom of your god who has ordained you, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people that are beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your god; and teach him who does not know them...
I have kept the parenthesised alternative for DAYANIN, but it is entirely unclear to me why the Masoretic scribe needed to make the point, given that the first can only be DAYANIN, which is a plural noun, meaning "judges", and the second DEYANIN, which is the 3rd person plural conjugation of the verb LEDAYEN, "to judge". Perhaps he wanted to draw attention to them being identical when written without nekudot.
7:26 VE CHAL DI LA LEHEV'E AVED DAT'A DI ELAHACH VE DAT'A DI MALK'A ASPARN'A DINAH LEHEV'E MIT'AVED MINEH HEN LEMOT HEN LISHROSHI HEN LA ANASH NICHSIN VE LE'ESURIN
וְכָל דִּי לָא לֶהֱוֵא עָבֵד דָּתָא דִי אֱלָהָךְ וְדָתָא דִּי מַלְכָּא אָסְפַּרְנָא דִּינָה לֶהֱוֵא מִתְעֲבֵד מִנֵּהּ הֵן לְמוֹת הֵן לִשְׁרֹשִׁי הֵן לַעֲנָשׁ נִכְסִין וְלֶאֱסוּרִין
KJ: And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
BN: "And whosoever does not obey the law of your god, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him with all diligence, whether it be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment..."
pey break
7:27 BARUCH YHVH ELOHEY AVOTEYNU ASHER NATAN KA ZOT BE LEV HA MELECH LEPHA'ER ET BEIT YHVH ASHER BIYRU-SHALA'IM
KJ: Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thingas this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD whichis in Jerusalem:
BN: Blessed be YHVH, the god of our ancestors, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify YHVH’s house which is in Yerushala'im...
בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵינוּ אֲשֶׁר נָתַן כָּזֹאת בְּלֵב הַמֶּלֶךְ לְפָאֵר אֶת בֵּית יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלִָם
KJ: Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thingas this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD whichis in Jerusalem:
BN: Blessed be YHVH, the god of our ancestors, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify YHVH’s house which is in Yerushala'im...
In Yehudit once again. YHVH. Yerushala'im.
Suddenly we appear to have an engaged narrator, and an authorial intervention; change in the mood of the text.
7:27 appears, and 7:28 definitely, to switch from the 3rd to the 1st person, and then continues as such.
7:28 VE ALAY HITAH CHESED LIPHNEY HA MELECH VE YO'ATSAV U LE CHOL SAREY HA MELECH HA GIBORIM VA ANI HITCHAZAKTI KE YAD YHVH ELOHAY ALAY VA EKBETSAH MI YISRA-EL RA'SHIM LA'ALOT IMI
KJ: And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.
וְעָלַי הִטָּה חֶסֶד לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְיוֹעֲצָיו וּלְכָל שָׂרֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ הַגִּבֹּרִים וַאֲנִי הִתְחַזַּקְתִּי כְּיַד יְהוָה אֱלֹהַי עָלַי וָאֶקְבְּצָה מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל רָאשִׁים לַעֲלוֹת עִמִּי
BN: And who extended mercy to me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. So I was strengthened by the hand of YHVH my god which was upon me, and I gathered together out of Yisra-El chief men to go up with me.
And the narrator-author turns out to be Ezra himself; at least, in this verse.
HITCHAZAKTI: Note that this same verb is used as the last statement of the chapter, exactly as it was in the previous chapter - see my note there to understand why it is such a significant choice of lexicon.
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