| Ezra 4:7
| And in the days of Artaxerxes, Beselam, Mithridates, and Thabeel, and the rest that were in the council, wrote to Artaxerxes, king of the Persians: and the letter of accusation was written in Syriac, and was read in the Syrian tongue.
| Artaxerxes may be the Oropastes of Trogus, (Calmet) or the false (Haydock) Smerdis. (Herodotus) --- Beselam, etc. These governed the provinces on the west side of the Euphrates. --- Syriac comprises the Chaldean, with which it has a great resemblance. It was spoken at the court of Babylon. (Xenophon vii.) See 4 Kings 18:26., and 2 Machabees 15:37., and Daniel 2:4.
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