Ezra 4:18

And I commanded, and search hath been made,.... In the records of his predecessors, whether Chaldeans or Persians:

and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings,…

Hath been ... read - It is doubtful if the Persian monarchs could ordinarily read. At any rate, it was their habit to have documents read to them (compare Est 6:1). This is still the ordinary practice…

Here we have,

I. The orders which the king of Persia gave, in answer to the information sent him by the Samaritans against the Jews. He suffered himself to be imposed upon by their fraud and…

The letter On the word used here see note on Ezr 4:8.

hath been plainly read before me So the R.V. The margin of the R.V. gives -translated" as the alternative rendering for -plainly", and this…