Section 4:6-23

Later other enemies wrote letters to their kings to stop the work of the Jews

4:6a At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes,

The Hebrew text gives the Hebrew transliteration of this king’s Persian name. This comes into English as Ahasuerus (see New Revised Standard Version, NET Bible, etc.). Some English versions (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Translation, etc.) instead use the Greek transliteration of this king’s name, Xerxes. Either name is acceptable to use in your translation, so we have used Ahasuerus in the first meaning line and Xerxes in the second.

¶ In the first year that Ahasuerus⌊ ⌋ was king/chief,
-or-
¶ ⌊Later⌋ Xerxes became the king/ruler ⌊of Persia⌋. At the start of his rule/reign,

4:6b an accusation was lodged against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

⌊the enemies of the Jews⌋ wrote a letter against the Jews who lived in Judah and Jerusalem.
-or-
⌊some of the nearby/neighboring people⌋ wrote a letter ⌊to him⌋. In it, ⌊these non Jews⌋ accused the Jews who lived in ⌊the territory/province of⌋ Judah and ⌊the city of⌋ Jerusalem ⌊of doing wrong⌋.

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