Key to our reading of both Ezra and Nechem-Yah (Nehemiah) is the use of Aramaic as the lingua franca of Yehudah at their time. Nechem-Yah (Nehemiah 13:24) objected to its usage, and wanted it prohibited; Ezra on the other hand employed it himself.
Why is it so important? Because - and this may be the first time anyone has ever offered this conjecture as an explanation of the flaws, problems, conflicts and errors in the Biblical texts - because the people who wrote down the Tanach in the form in which we have it, and who had either no, or virtually no written materials to assist them because everything had been destroyed in the Babylonian conquest a century earlier, these people were speaking Yehudit as their second, possibly even their third language, with limited schooling in it (presumably because there was no one competent to teach it).
In Ezr'a we will see a man consciously showing off his Aramaic (this is the Aramaic spelling of his name, to make the point) - Ezra 4:8 to 6:18 and 7:12-26 are the Aramaic texts, though we have to wonder, based on Nehemiah 13:24, how the political governor Nechem-Yah would have felt about this! Politically, for Ezra, using Aramaic was important, because he understood that a united nation, such as he was hoping to create, would have to allow the continuation of Aramaic or face passive resistance - compare centuries of effort by the English to eradicate Cymraeg, or that of the French with (dis)respect of Breton.
However, like Nechem-Yah, we will also encounter a man who really doesn't speak Yehudit very well, and writes it, or his scribe does, even worse, getting the meanings of words completely wrong, confusing homophonic letters, mixing up his active and passive verbs, his binyanim, his genders and tenses. And Nechem-Yah, who insisted that Yehudit had to be the national language and was horrified how few of the Yehudim spoke it, or even knew enough to be compellable, Nechem-Yah spoke and wrote it even worse - his book, as we shall see, is likewise replete with spelling and grammatical errors.
So we can reasonably suggest, based on their books, that the people who wrote down the Tanach were effectively translating it into Yehudit, and with very limited knowledge of that language. Nor would it be revived as the national language - until the 1880s CE, more than two thousand yearslater; so the entire history of Jewish Bible study and commentary can be said to have been undertaken in a foreign language, and usually in some time- or geography- related dialect of that foreign language. No wonder there are so many outstanding issues!
In order to accommodate the Aramaic variations into the system of transliteration used by TheBibleNet:
✡ whenever there is an Aleph (א) ending, I have placed an apostrophe before it.
✡ When there is a tsayreh (two flat dots) below the consonant before the Aleph, making an é-sound, I have not used an accent - eg יְהוּדָיֵא, because the apostrophe should be sufficient: Yehuday'e.
Two other commonalities worth pointing out:
✡ the -AYIN ending (eg בָּנַיִן - BANAYIN) is the equivalent of AYIM in Yehudit - 3rd person plural masculine.
✡ DI (דִּי) is the equivalent of Yehudit ASHER, meaing "which" or "that".
✡
1:1 U VI SHENAT ACHAT LE CHORESH MELECH PARAS LICHLOT DEVAR YHVH MI PI YIRME-YAH HE'IR YHVH ET RU'ACH KORESH MELECH PARAS VA YA'AVER KOL BE CHOL MALCHUTO VE GAM BE MICHTAV LEMOR
וּבִשְׁנַת אַחַת לְכוֹרֶשׁ מֶלֶךְ פָּרַס לִכְלוֹת דְּבַר יְהוָה מִפִּי יִרְמְיָה הֵעִיר יְהוָה אֶת רוּחַ כֹּרֶשׁ מֶלֶךְ פָּרַס וַיַּעֲבֶר קוֹל בְּכָל מַלְכוּתוֹ וְגַם בְּמִכְתָּב לֵאמֹר
KJ (King James translation): Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
BN (BibleNet translation): Now in the first year of Koresh, king of Paras, that the word of YHVH might be accomplished through the mouth of Yirme-Yah, YHVH inspired the spirit of Koresh king of Paras to make a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and he also put it in writing, saying:
CHORESH...KORESH: Simply a grammatical variation; a Kaph is softened to a Chaf by te removal of the dagesh after a preposition or other prefix.
PARAS: Persia, in English.
YIRME-YAH: elsewhere YIRME-YAHU, but that is likely to have been an alteration made during Hasmonean, or even later times, when the goddess YAH was removed from the theology; many Biblical names have the same variation, but Ezra confirms that the YAH-name was still normative in his time; and in all probability he was himself given his late grandfather's name, which in full was Azar-Yah (see Ezra 7:1), but that he was known by the diminutive form as Ezra (David, from Yedid-Yah, functions in the same manner).
MICHTAV: used to mean an "edict", from the concept of something that is "dictated", and which is the reason why we have two seemingly different words in modern English - a "dictator" being a person who has his secretary write his letters down for him, but also a tyrannical despot, one who rules by edicts.
Whoever is telling this, whether Ezra or another, he needed to give us a date, because what he is describing in these opening verses is history, some seventy years before Ezra's time; an account of Sheshbatsar and Zeru-Bavel and the first groups of returnees, probably in 538 BCE.
1:2 KOH AMAR KORESH MELECH PARAS KOL MAMLECHUT HA ARETS NATAN LI YHVH ELOHEY HA SHAMAYIM VE HU PAKAD ALAY LIVNOT LO VAYIT BIYRU-SHALA'IM ASHER BIYHUDAH
כֹּה אָמַר כֹּרֶשׁ מֶלֶךְ פָּרַס כֹּל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ נָתַן לִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי הַשָּׁמָיִם וְהוּא פָקַד עָלַי לִבְנוֹת לוֹ בַיִת בִּירוּשָׁלַםִ אֲשֶׁר בִּיהוּדָה
KJ: Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
BN: "Thus says Koresh king of Paras: All the kingdoms of the Earth has YHVH, the god of the heavens, given me; and he has charged me to build him a house in Yeru-Shala'im, which is in Yehudah...
YHVH: Unlikely. Koresh's principal deity was Ahura Mazda, but it is possible that he used the name as a political courtesy; more likely this is a translation, though see the last words in verse 3.
BIYRU-SHALA'IM ASHER BIYHUDAH: Ellision following the preposition removes the sheva under the first syllable of the noun. This is not an alternate pronunciation or spelling of either name, as we shall see when they are repeated without a prefictual preposition.
1:3 MI VACHEM MI KOL AMO YEHI ELOHAV IMO VE YA'AL LIYRU-SHALA'IM ASHER BIYHUDAH VE YIVEN ET BEIT YHVH ELOHEY YISRA-EL HU HA ELOHIM ASHER BIYRU-SHALA'IM
מִי בָכֶם מִכָּל עַמּוֹ יְהִי אֱלֹהָיו עִמּוֹ וְיַעַל לִירוּשָׁלִַם אֲשֶׁר בִּיהוּדָה וְיִבֶן אֶת בֵּית יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלָםִ
KJ: Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
BN: "Whoever there is among you of all his people - may his god be with him - let him go up to Yeru-Shala'im, which is in Yehudah, and build the house of YHVH, the god of Yisra-El; he is the god who is in Yeru-Shala'im...
1:4 VE CHOL HA NISHAR MI KOL HA MEKOMOT ASHER HU GAR SHAM YENAS'UHU ANSHEY MEKOMO BE CHESEPH U VE ZAHAV U VIRCHUSH U VIVHEMAH IM HA NEDAVAH LE VEIT HA ELOHIM ASHER BIYRU-SHALA'IM
וְכָל הַנִּשְׁאָר מִכָּל הַמְּקֹמוֹת אֲשֶׁר הוּא גָר שָׁם יְנַשְּׂאוּהוּ אַנְשֵׁי מְקֹמוֹ בְּכֶסֶף וּבְזָהָב וּבִרְכוּשׁ וּבִבְהֵמָה עִם הַנְּדָבָה לְבֵית הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלָםִ
KJ: And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
BN: "And whosoever is left, in any place where he sojourns, let the men in that place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with animals, as well as giving the freewill-offering for the house of Ha Elohim which is in Yeru-Shala'im."
BN: "And whosoever is left, in any place where he sojourns, let the men in that place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with animals, as well as giving the freewill-offering for the house of Ha Elohim which is in Yeru-Shala'im."
Deliberately echoing the departure from Egypt (Exodus 12:33 ff).
1:5 VA YAKUMU RA'SHEY HA AVOT LIYHUDAH U VIN-YAMIN VE HA KOHANIM VE HA LEVIYIM LE CHOL HE'IR HA ELOHIM ET RUCHO LA'ALOT LIVNOT ET BEIT YHVH ASHER BIYRU-SHALA'IM
וַיָּקוּמוּ רָאשֵׁי הָאָבוֹת לִיהוּדָה וּבִנְיָמִן וְהַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם לְכֹל הֵעִיר הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת רוּחוֹ לַעֲלוֹת לִבְנוֹת אֶת בֵּית יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלָםִ
KJ: Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.
BN: Then the heads of the clans of the tribes of Yehudah and Bin-Yamin, and the priests, and the Levites, everyone whose spirit Ha Elohim had stirred to go up to build the house of YHVH which is in Yeru-Shala'im - all of them got ready to depart.
BN: Then the heads of the clans of the tribes of Yehudah and Bin-Yamin, and the priests, and the Levites, everyone whose spirit Ha Elohim had stirred to go up to build the house of YHVH which is in Yeru-Shala'im - all of them got ready to depart.
YEHUDAH U VIN-YAMIN: Both tribes still in existence, though now amalgamated as one, and with Yehudah's name predominant; but Yeru-Shala'im is in the tribal territory of Bin-Yamin, so there is an equality at a different level.
Note the constant interchange of YHVH and Elohim and Ha Elohim, making sure that all participants in the unification process of restored Yisra-El were included, the aboriginal Kena'anim as much as the recent Shomronim, and all shades of Yehudan theology.
1:6 VE CHOL SEVIYVOTEYHEM CHIZKU VIYDEYHEM BICHLEY CHESEPH BA ZAHAV BARCHUSH U VA BEHEMAH U VA MIGDANOT LEVAD AL KOL HITNADEV
וְכָל סְבִיבֹתֵיהֶם חִזְּקוּ בִידֵיהֶם בִּכְלֵי כֶסֶף בַּזָּהָב בָּרְכוּשׁ וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבַמִּגְדָּנוֹת לְבַד עַל כָּל הִתְנַדֵּב
KJ: And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.
BN: And everyone around them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, and with precious things, in addition to the voluntary offerings.
BEHEMAH: VEHEMAH two verses back; again the softening that we saw with Choresh/Koresh in verse 1.
KOL HITNADEV: Offerings for the Temple, the NEDAVAH OF verse 4.
samech break
1:7 VE HA MELECH KORESH HOTS'I ET KELEY VEIT YHVH ASHER HOTS'I NEVUCHADNETSAR MIYRU'SHALA'IM VA YITNEM BE VEIT ELOHAV
וְהַמֶּלֶךְ כּוֹרֶשׁ הוֹצִיא אֶת כְּלֵי בֵית יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר הוֹצִיא נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר מִירוּשָׁלִַם וַיִּתְּנֵם בְּבֵית אֱלֹהָיו
KJ: Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;
BN: Also Koresh the king brought out the vessels of the House of YHVH, which Nevuchadnetsar had carried out of Yeru-Shala'im, and had put them in the house of his gods.
NEVUCHADNETSAR: And yet again, the same softening: Nebuch becomes Nevuch. This was clearly standard at the same time, and is so in today's revived Ivrit. "Netsar" however is simply the Aramaic pronunciation - it is we in English who changed the Tsade (צ) to a Zayin (ז), something done throughout the Tanach (Uz for Uts for example, where Job lived [that should be Iyov, another of the standard English letter-changes], and Sheshbatsar in the very next verse).
1:8 VA YOTSI'EM KORESH MELECH PARAS AL YAD MITREDAT HA GIZBAR VA YISPEREM LE SHESHBATSAR HA NAS'I LIYHUDAH
וַיּוֹצִיאֵם כּוֹרֶשׁ מֶלֶךְ פָּרַס עַל יַד מִתְרְדָת הַגִּזְבָּר וַיִּסְפְּרֵם לְשֵׁשְׁבַּצַּר הַנָּשִׂיא לִיהוּדָה
KJ: Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
BN: Koresh king of Paras brought them out in the hands of Mitredat the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbatsar, the prince of Yehudah.
MITREDAT: Sounds like Mithridates! And indeed it is - the name anyway, which was apparently very common, long before the kings of Pontus who bore it as a royal title. mɪθrəˈdeɪtiːz is the Hellenistic form, but the name was originally Persian, and means "given by the Mitra", or Mithras in some English renditions, the Vedic deity much beloved of the Roman army in Jesus' time and carried by them to every corner of the empire, including Britain.
SHESHBATSAR: the leader of the first group of returnees, before Zeru-Bavel; his full story, and the meaning of his name, can be found at the link.
1:9 VE ELEH MISPARAM AGARTLEY ZAHAV SHELOSHIM AGARTLEY CHESEPH ALEPH MACHALAPHIM TISH'AH VE ESRIM
וְאֵלֶּה מִסְפָּרָם אֲגַרְטְלֵי זָהָב שְׁלֹשִׁים אֲגַרְטְלֵי כֶסֶף אָלֶף מַחֲלָפִים תִּשְׁעָה וְעֶשְׂרִים
KJ: And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,
BN: And this is the total number of them: thirty basins of gold, a thousand basins of silver, twenty-nine knives...
AGARTLEY: Is there a connection with the word AGOROT, an AGORA being one hundredth of a shekel? Probably the metal used to make both is the answer. What is the difference between AGARTLEY in this verse and KEPHOREY in the next? KJ translates the first as "basins" and the second as "basons", whatever they are.
samech break
1:10 KEPHOREY ZAHAV SHELOSHIM KEPHOREY CHESEPH MISHNIM ARB'A ME'OT VA ASARAH KELIM ACHERIM ALEPH
כְּפוֹרֵי זָהָב שְׁלֹשִׁים כְּפוֹרֵי כֶסֶף מִשְׁנִים אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת וַעֲשָׂרָה כֵּלִים אֲחֵרִים אָלֶף
KJ: Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.
BN: Thirty single-bowls of gold, four hundred and ten silver double-bowls, and a thousand other vessels. {S}
Most unusual to find two samech breaks after consecutive verses like this; presumably it is because we are being presented with an inventory.
Most unusual to find two bowls in this manner too, like Siamese twins made of ceramic.
1:11 KOL KELIM LA ZAHAV VE LA KESEPH CHAMESHET ALAPHIM VE ARB'A ME'OT HA KOL HE'ELEH SHESHBATSAR IM HE'ALOT HA GOLAH MI BAVEL LIYRUSHALA'IM
כָּל כֵּלִים לַזָּהָב וְלַכֶּסֶף חֲמֵשֶׁת אֲלָפִים וְאַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת הַכֹּל הֶעֱלָה שֵׁשְׁבַּצַּר עִם הֵעָלוֹת הַגּוֹלָה מִבָּבֶל לִירוּשָׁלִָם
KJ: All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.
BN: In total, five thousand four hundred vessels of gold and of silver. All these Sheshbatsar brought with him, when they of the captivity were brought up from Bavel to Yeru-Shala'im.
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