OET interlinear EZRA 7:12

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks

אַ֨רְתַּחְשַׁ֔סְתְּא מֶ֖לֶךְ מַלְכַיָּ֑⁠א לְ⁠עֶזְרָ֣א כָ֠הֲנָ⁠א

ʼArtaḩshashtāʼ king kings,the to,Ezra priest,the

Here, the book begins to quote a letter of introduction and authorization that Artaxerxes gave to Ezra. 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 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

אַ֨רְתַּחְשַׁ֔סְתְּא מֶ֖לֶךְ מַלְכַיָּ֑⁠א

ʼArtaḩshashtāʼ king kings,the

Following the conventions of letter writing at the time, Artaxerxes gives his name first, as the sender. The king of kings was a title, meaning that he was the greatest of kings, the king that other kings obeyed. Alternate translation: “From the Great King Artaxerxes” or “From Artaxerxes, the greatest king”

Note 3 topic: writing-background

לְ⁠עֶזְרָ֣א כָ֠הֲנָ⁠א סָפַ֨ר דָּתָ֜⁠א דִּֽי־אֱלָ֧הּ שְׁמַיָּ֛⁠א

to,Ezra priest,the scribe_of law,the that/who god_of the=heavens

As was also conventional, Artaxerxes gives Ezra’s name next, as the recipient. He also includes some background information that helps identify Ezra further. Alternate translation: “Ezra, a priest of the God who rules in heaven, who has studied his law carefully”

אֱלָ֧הּ שְׁמַיָּ֛⁠א

god_of the=heavens

See how you translated this expression in [5:11](../05/11.md). Alternate translation: “the God who rules in heaven”

גְּמִ֖יר

peace

As in [4:17](../04/17.md) and [5:7](../05/07.md), this is a conventional greeting or good wish that senders at this time often included at the beginning of a letter. If your language has a similar expression that it uses for the same purpose, you can use it here. Alternate translation: “Greetings” or “We hope all is well with you”

Note 4 topic: grammar-connect-words-phrases

וּ⁠כְעֶֽנֶת

and,now

And now is an Aramaic expression that was used in the letters of this time to introduce the main business of the letter. If it would be helpful, review the note about this expression at [4:10](../04/10.md). If your language has a comparable expression that it uses for this same purpose, you could use that in your translation.