OET interlinear EZRA 4:17

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-names

רְח֤וּם בְּעֵל־טְעֵם֙

Rəḩūm officer_of commanding

Rehum is the name of a man and a lord of decree is his title. See how you translated them in 4:8. Alternate translation: “Rehum, the royal deputy”

Note 2 topic: translate-names

וְ⁠שִׁמְשַׁ֣י סָֽפְרָ֔⁠א

and,Shimshai scribe,the

Shimshai is the name of a man and scribe is his title. See how you translated them in 4:8. Alternate translation: “Shimshai the state secretary”

Note 3 topic: translate-names

וּ⁠שְׁאָר֙ כְּנָוָ֣תְ⁠ה֔וֹן דִּ֥י יָתְבִ֖ין בְּ⁠שָֽׁמְרָ֑יִן וּ⁠שְׁאָ֧ר עֲבַֽר־נַהֲרָ֛⁠ה

and,rest_of associates_of,their that/who live in/on/at/with,Samaria and,rest_of province_beyond river,the

As in 4:10, this could mean one of two things. (1) It could be referring to two groups: (a) the fellow officials of Rehum and Shimshai in the region of Samaria, and (b) the people groups living in the rest of the province of Beyond-the-River, however they came to live there. This is the reading of ULT. Alternate translation: “and the rest of their fellow officials, and the people groups living in Beyond-the-River” or (2) It could be referring to one group, the fellow officials of Rehum and Shimshai who live in the region of Samaria and in other parts of the province. This is the reading of UST. Alternate translation: “the rest of their fellow officials in Samaria and in the rest of Beyond-the-River” It would probably be clearest for your readers if you followed the same reading here as you did in 4:10, whether that of ULT or UST.

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

וּ⁠שְׁאָר֙ כְּנָוָ֣תְ⁠ה֔וֹן

and,rest_of associates_of,their

As in 4:7 and 4:9, the term companions here indicates people who hold similar positions. Alternate translation: “and the rest of their associates” or “and the rest of their fellow officials”

שְׁלָ֖ם

greetings

Peace was a conventional greeting or good wish that senders often included at the beginning of a letter at this time. (It is the Aramaic term that corresponds to the Hebrew expression “Shalom.”) If your language has a similar expression that it uses for the same purpose, you can use it here. Alternate translations: “greetings” or “I hope all is well with you”

Note 5 topic: grammar-connect-words-phrases

וּ⁠כְעֶֽת

and,now

As in 4:10 and 4:11, this phrase translates an Aramaic expression that introduces the main business of a letter. If your language has a comparable expression, then use it here. If it would not use such an expression here, then you do not need to represent it in your translation.