Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe: Here the authors of the second letter that is quoted in the book of Ezra are listed with their titles. One was a commander, a high ranking non-military administrative official who could give orders. Good News Translation and other translations call him a “governor,” but another Aramaic word usually refers to that office. “Chancellor” is also used (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), as is “high commissioner” (New English Bible) and “royal deputy” (New Revised Standard Version). Translators should use a word or an expression for a high government functionary who reports to the king. The other author was a scribe, a high official who drafted royal correspondence and made official translations. He may be called “the government writer,” “the writing officer,” “the royal secretary,” or “the writer chief.”

Wrote a letter against Jerusalem: The letter was written against the people living in Jerusalem. It was written to accuse them or to blame them. In some languages the preposition “on” or the prepositional phrase “on top of” or “on the head of” indicates that a message is directed against someone, or a language may use a prepositional verb form.

The names and titles with this brief indication of the subject matter of the letter may have been written on the outside of a papyrus roll as was customary at that time. As follows then indicates that the contents of the letter will be given in the following text. But as is apparent from the translations and the presentation in Revised Standard Version and in Good News Translation, there is not full agreement by commentators and translators about what follows in verses 9 and 10.

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 .