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class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">We certify the king that, if this city be builded <i>again</i>, and the walls thereof set up, by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/ezra/4.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/ezra/4.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/ezra/4.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/ezra/4.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/ezra/4.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/ezra/4.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/ezra/4.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/ezra/4.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a 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Commentary">Kelly</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/ezra/4.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/ezra/4.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/ezra/4.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/ezra/4.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/ezra/4.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/ezra/4.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/ezra/4.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/ezra/4.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/ezra/4.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/ezra/4.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/ezra/4.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/ezra/4.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/ezra/4.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(16) <span class= "bld">No portion on this side the river.</span>—The same unscrupulous use of language: that is, if the river Euphrates is meant. In the days of Solomon, and once or twice subsequently, the Israelites had advanced towards the river, but it was not likely that they would ever do so again. The letter may, however, have been intended to suggest loosely that Jerusalem might become a centre of general disaffection.<p><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/ezra/4.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>4:6-24 It is an old slander, that the prosperity of the church would be hurtful to kings and princes. Nothing can be more false, for true godliness teaches us to honour and obey our sovereign. But where the command of God requires one thing and the law of the land another, we must obey God rather than man, and patiently submit to the consequences. All who love the gospel should avoid all appearance of evil, lest they should encourage the adversaries of the church. The world is ever ready to believe any accusation against the people of God, and refuses to listen to them. The king suffered himself to be imposed upon by these frauds and falsehoods. Princes see and hear with other men's eyes and ears, and judge things as represented to them, which are often done falsely. But God's judgment is just; he sees things as they are.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/ezra/4.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>The book of the records - Compare <a href="/esther/2-23.htm">Esther 2:23</a>; <a href="/esther/6-1.htm">Esther 6:1</a>; <a href="/esther/10-2.htm">Esther 10:2</a>. The existence of such a "book" at the Persian court is attested also by Ctesias.<p>Of thy fathers - i. e., thy predecessors ripen the throne, Cambyses, Cyrus, etc. If Artaxerxes was the Pseudo-Smerdis (<a href="/ezra/4-7.htm">Ezra 4:7</a> note), these persons were not really his "fathers" or ancestors; but the writers of the letter could not venture to call the king an impostor. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/ezra/4.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>14. we have maintenance from the king's palace—literally, "we are salted with the salt of the palace." "Eating a prince's salt" is an Oriental phrase, equivalent to "receiving maintenance from him."<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/ezra/4.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/ezra/4.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>We certify the king, that if this city be builded again, and the walls thereof set up,.... As it formerly was, and now attempted, as they suggest: <p>by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river; the river Euphrates; intimating that the Jews would not only shake off his yoke, and refuse to pay tribute themselves, but would seize on all his dominions on that side the river, and annex them to their own. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/ezra/4.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">We certify the king that, if this city be builded again, and the walls thereof set up, by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/ezra/4.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">16</span>. <span class="ital">be builded</span> again, <span class="ital">and the walls thereof set up</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">be builded and the walls finished.</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">by this means</span>] i.e. in consequence of Jerusalem becoming once more a fortified city and so recovering her capacity for rebellion.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">thou shalt have no portion on</span> this <span class="ital">side the river</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">beyond the river</span>. For this expression see note on <a href="/ezra/4-12.htm" title="Be it known to the king, that the Jews which came up from you to us are come to Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations.">Ezra 4:12</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">no portion</span>] For the use of this phrase cf. <a href="/joshua/22-25.htm" title="For the LORD has made Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad; you have no part in the LORD: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the LORD.">Joshua 22:25</a>; <a href="/joshua/22-27.htm" title="But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, You have no part in the LORD.">Joshua 22:27</a>, <a href="/2_samuel/20-1.htm" title="And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.">2 Samuel 20:1</a>, <a href="/john/13-8.htm" title="Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash you not, you have no part with me.">John 13:8</a> (<span class="greekheb">οὐκ ἔχεις μέρος</span>), <a href="/2_corinthians/6-15.htm" title="And what concord has Christ with Belial? or what part has he that believes with an infidel?">2 Corinthians 6:15</a> (<span class="greekheb">τίς μέρις πιστῷ μετὰ ἀπίστου</span>). The letter concludes with an exaggerated appeal to the king’s alarms.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>(1) The Jews would be a centre of rebellion among the Western nations:<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>(2) A Jewish empire might spring from the fortifications of Jerusalem as an Israelite empire once before had done. In either case the Persian king would find himself deprived of his hold upon the country W. of the Euphrates.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The LXX. read <span class="greekheb">οὐκ ἐστιν σοι εἰρήνη</span>: i.e. thou shalt have no peace. <a href="http://apocrypha.org/1_esdras/2-24.htm" title="Wherefore now we do declare unto thee, O lord the king, that if this city be built again, and the walls thereof set up anew, thou shalt from henceforth have no passage into Celosyria and Phenice.">1Es 2:24</a>, ‘thou shalt from henceforth have no passage into Cœle-Syria and Phœnice’. Both paraphrases of our text.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/ezra/4.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Thou</span> <span class="cmt_word">shalt have no portion on this side the river</span>. It is not quite clear whether the river intended here and in ver. 10 is the Euphrates or the Jordan. Generally in the Old Testament <span class="accented">hannahar</span> means the Euphrates, but the exaggeration is gross if that river was intended here. Only twice in their history had the Israelites advanced their frontier as far as that stream - under Solomon (<a href="/1_kings/4-21.htm">1 Kings 4:21</a>) and under Menahem (<a href="/2_kings/15-16.htm">2 Kings 15:16</a>); in their present depressed condition it was absurd to imagine that they could rival those early glories. But jealousy does not stop to weigh the reasonableness of its accusations. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> CHAPTER 4:17-24. Ezra 4:16<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/ezra/4.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>After thus casting suspicion upon the Jews as a seditious people, their adversaries bring the accusation, already raised at the beginning of the letter, to a climax, by saying that if Jerusalem is rebuilt and fortified, the king will lose his supremacy over the lands on this side the river. דּנה לקבל, on this account, for this reason, that the present inhabitants of the fortified city Jerusalem are like its former inhabitants, thou wilt have no portion west of Euphrates, i.e., thou wilt have nothing more to do with the countries on this side the river-wilt forfeit thy sway over these districts.<div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/ezra/4-16.htm">Ezra 4:16 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../ezra/4-15.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Ezra 4:15"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Ezra 4:15" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../ezra/4-17.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Ezra 4:17"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Ezra 4:17" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>