This is a copy of the letter that they sent: In Revised Standard Version the first part of this verse is the end of the section set off by dashes that started with verse 9 above. The copy of the letter then follows. Good News Translation interprets this line to refer to the “text of the letter” as opposed to the identification of the senders in the preceding two verses. In any case, the actual text of the letter follows and translators should introduce it in the form that is appropriate in the receptor language. The same holds true for the opening of the letter that follows (see also Ezra 5.7; 7.12; compare Neh 6.6).

To Artaxerxes the king is the formal opening address in the letter. Your servants is the traditional way to address a king in this culture. Translators should use appropriate but equivalent forms for the receptor culture. In some cultures it is polite to address a king as “Your Majesty” (Contemporary English Version). In some places it is not proper to refer to a king in the second person singular form, which is used in the Aramaic rendered your servants. It should instead be a second person plural possessive pronoun form with honorific meaning. In some languages it is preferable to use a third person reference in addressing a king; for example, “his servants” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant).

After the writers convey their humble status, they identify themselves by geographic location. They are his servants who live in the province that is known as Beyond the River (see the comments on verse 10 above).

Send greeting is not in the text but is implicit and is therefore made explicit in Revised Standard Version (also New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version). Good News Translation inserts the preposition “from,” which is not in the original text, to show a relationship between “To Emperor Artaxerxes” and “his servants” (also New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). The opening of the letter can be restructured as follows: “Great Ruler, it is we your servants who live in the division of land Over-the-Euphrates who write this letter to you.”

And now introduces the subject of the letter that follows in the next verse (New Revised Standard Version, Bible de Jérusalem; see also the comments on verse 10 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 .