OET interlinear EZRA 6:6

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

כְּעַ֡ן תַּ֠תְּנַי

now Tattenai

Here the book leaves out some of the material that a story would ordinarily need in order to be complete. Rather than repeating the same information from the scroll, but now as a letter to the officials, it jumps right from its quotation from the scroll that was discovered at Ecbatana and into the letter that King Darius wrote to Tattenai and his associates in response to what the scroll said. You could say this explicitly if it would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: “When King Darius learned from the scroll that Cyrus had ordered the temple to be rebuilt, he sent Tattenai and his associates a letter in answer to their inquiry. He told them what he had learned from the scroll and then warned them, ‘Now Tattenai’”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks

כְּעַ֡ן

now

Since the book here begins to quote the letter that King Darius sent in reply to Tattenai and his associates, it may be helpful to your readers to indicate this with an opening quotation mark or with whatever other punctuation or convention your language uses to indicate the beginning of a quotation.

Note 3 topic: grammar-connect-words-phrases

כְּעַ֡ן

now

As in 4:13, 4:14, and 4:21, now introduces an important point within a letter. (It is similar to the expression “and now” in 4:10, 4:11, 4:17, and 5:17.) If your language has a comparable expression that it uses for this same purpose, you can use that in your translation.

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / 123person

תַּ֠תְּנַי פַּחַ֨ת עֲבַֽר־נַהֲרָ֜⁠ה שְׁתַ֤ר בּוֹזְנַי֙ וּ⁠כְנָוָ֣תְ⁠ה֔וֹן אֲפַרְסְכָיֵ֔⁠א דִּ֖י בַּ⁠עֲבַ֣ר נַהֲרָ֑⁠ה רַחִיקִ֥ין הֲו֖וֹ מִן־תַּמָּֽה

Tattenai governor province_beyond river,the שְׁתַר בּוֹזְנַי and,associates,their envoys,the that/who in/on/at/with,province_beyond river,the away keep from/more_than there

Since Darius addresses these men directly at the end of the sentence, instead of their companions, in the third person, we would expect him to say “your companions,” in the second person. So it seems that the book is compressing the letter as it quotes it. Based on the other letters that the book quotes in 4:11–16, 4:17–22, and 5:7–17, the full letter probably said something like “To Tattenai, the governor of Beyond-the-River, Shethar-Bozenai, and their companions, the officials who are in Beyond-the-River. Peace. And now,” followed by an explanation that the court officials had discovered a scroll that recorded the decree of Cyrus. Then would follow instructions to these men, beginning “Be far away from there!” But since the quotation from this letter in the book jumps from the list of the recipients’ names right to these instructions, If it would be helpful in your language, you could use the second person throughout. Alternate translation: “Tattenai, the governor of Beyond-the-River, Shethar-Bozenai, and your associates, you officials who are in Beyond-the-River: Be far away from there”

Note 5 topic: translate-names

תַּ֠תְּנַי & שְׁתַ֤ר בּוֹזְנַי֙

Tattenai & שְׁתַר בּוֹזְנַי

These are the names of two men. See how you translated them in 5:3.

וּ⁠כְנָוָ֣תְ⁠ה֔וֹן

and,associates,their

Alternate translation: “and their associates” or “and your associates”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

רַחִיקִ֥ין הֲו֖וֹ מִן־תַּמָּֽה

away keep from/more_than there

King Darius uses a spatial metaphor to indicate that he wants Tattenai and his associates not to interfere with what the Jews are doing in Jerusalem. The meaning is not simply that they are to stay away physically from that area, since they could still plot against the Jews from a distance (for example, by bribing officials in the royal court, as 4:5 describes). Alternate translation: “do not interfere with what is happening in Jerusalem”