The emperor answers the letter of the Jewish adversaries in verses 17-22. He takes the accusation of the writers seriously. He reports that the information they sent him about the rebellion and sedition of Jerusalem has been confirmed from the records. Therefore they are to issue an order stopping the rebuilding of the city until he makes a decree.

There is no formal discourse marker in the Aramaic text to introduce what follows the letter that was sent to the king. Bible en français courant uses a subtitle to indicate what follows next in the account: “Response of King Artaxerxes” (similarly English Standard Version). Translators should use at least a paragraph break to indicate the shift in the account that will now relate the king’s response.

The king or the emperor sends an answer in the form of a letter, and this is quoted in the verses that follow. The text is in the traditional letter form. This includes naming the people to whom it is addressed and an opening salutation. The people named are the same two people who were named as sending the first letter and the rest of their associates in Samaria and elsewhere in the province Beyond the River. There is selective repetition of information that was given in verses 8-10 (see above).

The opening of the king’s letter ends with the word greeting. This is the well-known Semitic greeting “Peace.” The meaning here is not the religious sense of Old Testament theology, but rather the more everyday meaning of a greeting. Therefore it is not necessary to translate “peace” as a number of translations have done (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Osty-Trinquet). Good News Translation interprets it with the modern-day English expression “greetings” (also New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version). This however may be too informal for a king’s letter. An equivalent to “I greet you” (Bible en français courant) or the more formal “I wish you well-being and blessing” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) should be used in the receptor language.

And now: See the comments on verses 10 and 11.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .