The writers suggest that the king confirm from the records that Jerusalem has been a rebellious city. The book of the records of your fathers were the official documents kept by the government. When the Persians replaced the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, they gained access to their records. These were in the form of clay tablets or leather or papyrus scrolls in the royal archives. The political predecessors of Artaxerxes, to whom this letter is written, are here considered to be his fathers or his “ancestors” (Good News Translation). In those records there would be reports of sedition or rebellions by the rulers in Jerusalem against the Assyrians and Babylonians, and in particular their opposition to the Babylonian rulers that led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. This information is true.
That search be made: The text literally says “that he may search.” However, it may be assumed that the king himself will not do the searching in the state archives. Revised Standard Version therefore changes the grammatical construction from a verb to a noun. By using the passive construction be made, it avoids specifying who will carry out the search (also Good News Translation). In some languages like French there is an indefinite third person pronoun (“one”) that can be used here (Darby), or an indefinite third person plural form “they” may be used to avoid specifying who will carry out the search.
You will find in the book of the records and learn that: You will find is the logical result of a search, and the result of searching and finding will be to learn. New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation combine the two semantic components into one phrase: “You will discover.” The information that will be found in the records is then given in the form of a non-quotation; that is, the writers of the letter are not quoting what is written in the records; they are summarizing the information that is recorded. New English Bible translates “You will discover by searching through the annals that…,” and Bible en français courant says “There you will find confirmation that….”
The accusation against Jerusalem is then repeated. This time they say from the official records that this city is a rebellious city. In their first accusation they did not indicate in what way it was rebellious, but here they explain that it was hurtful to kings and to provinces. New International Version says “troublesome to kings and provinces” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nouvelle version Segond révisée), while New Jerusalem Bible translates “the bane of kings and provinces” (see also Bible de Jérusalem). New English Bible translates “harmful to the monarchy and its provinces” to make explicit the warning that is directed both toward the king and toward his kingdom. It may be difficult in some cultures to link people and geographical entities in this way. Good News Translation therefore says “it has given trouble to kings and rulers of provinces.” Other possible translations are “… to kings and provincial governors” and “… to the monarchy and its provinces.”
Sedition was stirred up in it from of old: Sedition means undermining the authority of the government through causing violence or public disorder. This is to say they were “doing rebellion.” It was “a city where sedition was fomented from ancient times” (Bible de Jérusalem). From of old (or, “from the days of antiquity”) is emphatic. The accusation is that Jerusalem has been a rebellious city forever. It is its very nature to be “a place of rebellion” (New International Version).
That was why this city was laid waste: The writers end their summary of what the records will show by drawing their conclusion. They claim that because of its repeated rebellious acts, Jerusalem was laid waste. Good News Translation has “the city was destroyed,” which is a passive form that does not specify who destroyed it. It may be necessary to use an active form with an indefinite pronoun, for example, “they destroyed the city,” or another possibility is “a predecessor of yours destroyed the city.”
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 .