Chapter Four

1–12. Speech of the second bodyguard about the power of the king. 13–32. Speech of the third bodyguard Zerubbabel about women and 34–41 about truth. 42–46. The king’s decision and Zerubbabel’s request about the Jews. 47–57. Darius’s kindness toward the Jews. 58–60. Zerubbabel’s prayer of thanksgiving. 61–63. Joy of the Jews at the granting of freedom.

1 Esdras 4:1. And the second began to speak, he who spoke about the power of the king. 1 Esdras 4:2. O men! Are not men powerful who have dominion over land and sea and all that is in them? 1 Esdras 4:3. But the king overpowers and is master over them, and gives commands to them, and in all that he commands them, they obey. 1 Esdras 4:4. If he says to them to make war against each other, they do it; if he sends them against enemies, they go and destroy mountains and walls and towers, 1 Esdras 4:5. and they kill and are killed, yet they do not transgress the king’s word; and if they conquer, they bring everything they have taken as plunder to the king, and all the rest. 1 Esdras 4:6. And those who do not go out to war and do not fight, but till the ground, after sowing, gathering the harvest, also bring to the king 1 Esdras 4:7. and, compelling one another, they bring tribute to the king. 1 Esdras 4:8. And he alone, if he says kill, they kill; if he says release, they release; if he says strike, they strike; 1 Esdras 4:9. if he says lay waste, they lay waste; if he says build, they build; if he says cut down, they cut down; if he says plant, they plant; 1 Esdras 4:10. and all his people and his army obey him. Moreover, he reclines, eats and drinks and sleeps, 1 Esdras 4:11. and they stand guard around him and no one is able to go away and do his own business, nor can they disobey him. 1 Esdras 4:12. O men! Is not the king mightier than all when such is his obedience? – And he fell silent. 1–12. The speech of the second bodyguard is more extensive than the speech of the first. Its meaning is that the king is the mightiest of all, since all people obey him.

1 Esdras 4:13. And the third, who spoke of women and of truth – this was Zerubbabel – began to speak: 13–32. The third bodyguard’s speech is the longest. It falls into two halves. In the first it is demonstrated that women are stronger than wine and stronger than the king, since they gave birth to the king, nursed those who tend the vineyards, prepare clothes and all things needed for adornment, and cause men to forget everything for their sake. In the second half of the speech, the power of truth is extolled. 13. The writer’s note about the third bodyguard: this was Zerubbabel; in the Syriac, Old Latin and manuscripts 108, 121, it is given with the addition ό tou Salachiēl ex phylēs Ikouda.

1 Esdras 4:14. O men! Is the king not great, and are not many men mighty, and is not wine strong? But who has dominion over them and possesses them? Are not women? 1 Esdras 4:15. Women gave birth to the king and all the people who have dominion over land and sea; 1 Esdras 4:16. and from them were born and by them were nourished those who plant vineyards, from which wine is made; 1 Esdras 4:17. they make clothes for people and provide adornment for people, and people cannot exist without women. 1 Esdras 4:18. If they gather gold and silver and all kinds of precious things and then see a woman beautiful in appearance and lovely, 1 Esdras 4:19. they abandon everything, keep their eyes fixed on her, and gaze upon her with mouths open, and all cling to her more than to gold and silver and every precious thing. 1 Esdras 4:20. A man leaves the father who raised him and his country and cleaves to his wife, 1 Esdras 4:21. and with his wife he leaves his soul, and does not remember neither his father, nor his mother, nor his country. 21. And with his wife he leaves his soul (aphiēsi tēn psychēn), that is, he remains with his wife until death (Cf. Gen 35:18).

1 Esdras 4:22. And from this you ought to know that women have dominion over you. Do you not toil and labor and bring and deliver everything to women? 1 Esdras 4:23. A man takes his sword and goes out to the roads to rob and steal, and is prepared to sail across seas and rivers, 1 Esdras 4:24. he meets a lion and wanders in darkness; but as soon as he has stolen and plundered and robbed, he brings it to his beloved. 24. He meets a lion and wanders in darkness. Cf. Prov 22:13; Sir 4:30; 1 Pet 5:8. In the Old Latin: leonem contemnit, he disdains a lion. The idea is that a man, for the sake of his beloved, disregards every fear.

1 Esdras 4:25. And a man loves his wife more than his father and mother. 1 Esdras 4:26. Many have lost their minds because of women and became slaves through them. 1 Esdras 4:27. Many have perished and gone astray and sinned because of women. 1 Esdras 4:28. Do you not believe me now? Is not the king mighty in his power? Do not all countries fear to touch him? 1 Esdras 4:29. I saw him and Apamea, daughter of the celebrated Bartacus, the king’s concubine, sitting at the right hand of the king; 29. Daughter of the celebrated Bartacus. The name is read differently in manuscripts and appears to be corrupted. In Josephus it reads: Rabezacou tou Themassou. The name Alami (Alamin) occurs very frequently in monuments as the name of Syrian princesses.

1 Esdras 4:30. and she took the crown from the head of the king and placed it on herself, and with her left hand she struck the king on the cheek. 1 Esdras 4:31. And at all this the king looked at her with his mouth open: if she smiled at him, he smiled; and if she became angry with him, he caressed her so that she would be reconciled to him. 1 Esdras 4:32. O men! Why then are women not mighty when they conduct themselves thus? 1 Esdras 4:33. Then the king and the nobles looked at one another, and he began to speak about truth. 33. Then the king and the nobles looked at one another – evidently expressing astonishment at what Zerubbabel had said.

1 Esdras 4:34. O men! Are not women mighty? Great is the earth and high the heavens, and swift in its course is the sun, for it completes its circle through the heavens in one day and returns again to its place. 1 Esdras 4:35. Is not He great who does this? And truth is great and stronger than all things. 1 Esdras 4:36. All the earth cries out to the truth, and the heaven blesses it, and all the works tremble and shudder before it. And there is no unrighteousness in it. 1 Esdras 4:37. Wine is unrighteous, the king is unrighteous, women are unrighteous, all the children of mankind are unrighteous, and all their deeds are such, and there is no truth in them, and they will perish in their unrighteousness; 1 Esdras 4:38. but truth remains and is strong forever, and lives and has dominion forever and ever. 1 Esdras 4:39. And with her there is no partiality and no distinction, but she does what is just, departing from all that is unjust and evil, and all approve of her deeds. 1 Esdras 4:40. And there is nothing unjust in her judgment; she is the strength and the kingdom and the power and the glory of all the ages: blessed is the God of truth! 35–40. Zerubbabel glorifies truth, representing it as more powerful than everything, and not God. It is possible that he has in mind non-Jewish listeners. Moreover, in Zerubbabel’s speech is reflected the influence of the age in which the author of the book lived. The idea of God in later Jewish theology was broken down into individual concepts (sophia, logos, pneuma theou, alētheia); these concepts were hypostatized and took the place of ancients in signifying the conception of Godhead.

1 Esdras 4:41. And he stopped speaking. And all exclaimed and said: great is truth and mightier than all things. 1 Esdras 4:42. Then the king said to him: ask what you wish, beyond what is written, and we will give it to you, since you have shown yourself the wisest, and you shall sit beside me and be called my kinsman. 41–42. Recognized as the winner, Zerubbabel receives permission to ask what he wishes and appeals with a petition for the Jews.

1 Esdras 4:43. Then he said to the king: remember the vow you gave on the day when you received your kingdom, that you would rebuild Jerusalem 1 Esdras 4:44. and send all the vessels taken from Jerusalem, which Cyrus took when he made a vow to destroy Babylon and promised to send them there. 1 Esdras 4:45. And you promised to build the temple which the Edomites burned when Judea was laid waste by the Chaldeans. 45. You promised to build the temple which the Edomites burned. On the participation of the Edomites in the plunder of Jerusalem there is mention in the prophet Obadiah and in the book of Ezekiel 26:5.

1 Esdras 4:46. And now I ask this of you, O lord the king, and I beseech you, and in this is your greatness: I ask you to fulfill the promise which you made with your mouth to the King of Heaven. 1 Esdras 4:47. Then King Darius, rising, kissed him and wrote letters for him to all the governors and commanders of the provinces and commanders and satraps, to allow him and all who were with him going to build Jerusalem to pass. 1 Esdras 4:48. And he wrote letters to all the local governors in Coelesyria and Phoenicia and those on the Lebanon, to bring cedar wood from the Lebanon to Jerusalem and to help him build the city. 1 Esdras 4:49. And he wrote concerning freedom for all the Jews departing from the kingdom into Judea, that no one of those having authority, the governor of the region and the satrap and the governor, should come to their doors, 49. Not come to their doors, that is, not interfere in their internal affairs.

1 Esdras 4:50. but all the land that they possess shall be exempted from tribute, and the Edomites shall abandon the villages of the Jews which they held; 1 Esdras 4:51. and for the building of the temple there shall be given annually twenty talents, until it is completed; 1 Esdras 4:52. and for the sacrifices on the altar daily burnt offerings, in addition to the seventeen prescribed, were to be given ten talents per year; 52. The mention of the seventeen prescribed burnt offerings is unclear. In the Syriac, Old Latin and Vulgate it is omitted. Cf. Exod 29:38; Num 28:8.

1 Esdras 4:53. and that all those departing from Babylon shall be free to build the city, both themselves and their descendants and all the priests who will go. 1 Esdras 4:54. And he wrote also concerning their support and the priestly garments in which they serve. 1 Esdras 4:55. And he wrote to provide support for the Levites until the day when the temple is completed and Jerusalem is rebuilt; 1 Esdras 4:56. and to all who guard the city, he ordered to give wages and provisions. 56. Ordered to give wages and provisions – klerorous kai opsoñia, estates and support.

1 Esdras 4:57. And he released all the vessels which Cyrus had taken out of Babylon; and all that Cyrus commanded to be done, he also ordered to be done and sent to Jerusalem. 1 Esdras 4:58. And when the young man came forth, he turned his face toward the sky opposite Jerusalem, thanked the King of Heaven and said: 58. And when the young man came forth – he came forth, evidently, from the royal palace. – He turned his face toward the sky opposite Jerusalem. Cf. Daniel 6:10. To pray, having turned one’s face toward Jerusalem, was a common custom.

1 Esdras 4:59. from You comes victory and from You wisdom, and Your is the glory, and I am Your servant. 1 Esdras 4:60. Blessed are You, You who have granted me wisdom, and I give You thanks, O God, Father of our fathers. 1 Esdras 4:61. And having taken the letters, he departed and came to Babylon and told all his brothers. 1 Esdras 4:62. And they gave thanks to the God of their fathers because He had granted them freedom and permission 1 Esdras 4:63. to go and build Jerusalem and the temple, which is called by His name. And they rejoiced with music and gladness for seven days. Our Telegram channel