The writers of the letter to the king now quote word-for-word the answer that was given to their questions. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation retain the form of direct quotation, which is a quotation within a quotation. Therefore a single quotation mark is used here in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation to mark the beginning of the quotation and a single closing quotation mark is used in verse 16 to mark the closing of the quotation. Some translators indicate the opening of a quotation within a quotation by a colon. The disadvantage of indicating the opening of a quotation by means of a colon is that there is no punctuation then to show where the quotation ends. If this is done, a block indentation or some other formatting should be considered to indicate where the quotation ends.

The Jewish leaders in their answer to the Persian officials emphasized the continuity of their project from the time of the building of the first Temple by Solomon and the authorization of King Cyrus to rebuild it.

We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth: Here the Jews identify themselves as the servants of … God. They are “the workers of God” or “those who do the work of God.” They use the same term for God that King Cyrus did in his edict in Ezra 1.2, God of heaven, to which they add and earth. The preposition of may be ambiguous in the title God of heaven and earth, so in some languages it will be necessary to specify the relationship of God to heaven and earth. Here it may be translated “God who created heaven and earth” (Parole de Vie), “God who rules heaven and earth” (Contemporary English Version), or “God who is over….” Note that the Persians considered their high God Ahuramazda to be the creator of heaven and earth.

We are rebuilding the house …: After the Jews identify themselves, they first focus on the house. They are building, they say, the one that was built many years ago. Translators must make it clear that the time referred to here is many years before the time of the people who are being quoted in the text. Then they describe which house, the one which a great king of Israel built and finished. The great king of Israel Solomon is not named because the Persians would not have known of him. To “finish” is taken by Good News Translation to mean providing all the equipment that was needed in the Temple for sacrifice and worship (see the comment on verse 3 above).

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 .