Ezra 7:11–28
Artaxerxes' commission and the change of voice
The king's letter (7:12–26) is Aramaic; 7:27 returns to Hebrew and to "I": the start of Ezra's memoir. In 7:12 the Aramaic gemir ("perfect," probably a greeting formula) is understood very differently by the library's Greek.
Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Composed c. 5th–4th century BC (debated)
Original Ezra–Nehemiah
No original survives.
Translated c. 2nd–1st century BC
Septuagint, Esdras B (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
à Esdras, scribe de la loi du Seigneur Dieu du ciel: Que ta demande et ma réponse s'accomplissent.
"May your request and my answer be fulfilled." One Greek text via Giguet's French; not checked against Hanhart's Göttingen edition.
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate (1 Esdras = Ezra)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Ezrae sacerdoti, scribae legis Dei caeli doctissimo, salutem
"Most learned, greeting."
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
לְעֶזְרָא כָהֲנָא סָפַר דָּתָא דִּי־אֱלָהּ שְׁמַיָּא גְּמִיר וּכְעֶנֶת
to Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of the God of heaven, complete (?), and now
Gemir may abbreviate a greeting ("perfect peace") or describe Ezra ("accomplished").
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time
What changed, and why
The decree's Persian loanwords (dat "law," adrazda "diligently," ganzaya "treasury") and forms ("king of kings," "seven counsellors") fit the Persian chancery. The Hebrew blessing in 7:27–28 then begins the first-person "Ezra Memoir," which runs to 9:15. Whether Ezra wrote it or an editor composed it in his voice is debated.
What the evidence shows
- Ezra 7:12–26 is Aramaic and 7:27 returns to Hebrew in the first person.
- The library's Greek reads 7:12 differently from the Hebrew. Via Giguet's French.
- The decree is an authentic Persian document.
Sources
- P. Frei, "Persian Imperial Authorization: A Summary," in J. W. Watts (ed.), Persia and Torah (2001)
- H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah (Word Biblical Commentary 16, 1985)
Related lessons
- Ezra the Priest and Scribe →"After these things" (some fifty-seven years later on the usual dating), Ezra, a priest descended from Aaron and "a ready scribe in the law of Moses," comes from Babylon in the seventh year of Artaxerxes. The king's Aramaic letter lets any Israelite go with him, sends silver and gold, exempts temple staff from tax, and gives Ezra authority to appoint judges and to teach the law of his God, with penalties for those who will not obey. Ezra breaks into thanks in the first person.