Ezra 4:14
in Ezra 4Now because we are in the service of the palace and it is not fitting for us to allow the king to be dishonored, we have sent to inform the king
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not meet for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore have we sent and certified the king;
KJV
Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king;
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This verse in Ezra 4
Commentary
9 notes on this verseNow because we have maintenance from the king’s palace - More literally: Now because at all times we are salted with the salt of the palace; i.e., We live on the king’s bounty, and must be faithful to our benefactor. Salt was used as the emblem of an incorruptible covenant; and those who ate bread and salt together were considered as having entered into a very solemn covenant.
This site's exposition
we are in the service of the palace
on Ezra 4:14-16
They ask Artaxerxes to search the record books of his fathers. There, they claim, he will find that Jerusalem is a rebellious city, inciting sedition from ancient times. The appeal to the archives gives the charge the shape of a legal brief, built to survive the king's own check.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
We, therefore, mindful of the salt which we have eaten in the palace, etc. The Samaritans eat salt in the palace, when heretics are educated with the flavor of worldly philosophy, with the sweetness of rhetoric, and with the cleverness of dialectical art. They also …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
"Now, in consideration of this, it is not meet for us to see the king's dishonour; " and therefore they urge him to stop the building of the temple, which would certainly be the king's dishonour more than any thing else. Note, A secret enmity to Christ and his gospel is often gilded over with a pretended affection to Caesar and his power.
Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
THE facts of the case were these. Under Zerubbabel, the Jews, who had returned from Babylon, commenced to rebuild Jerusalem. There were in the land certain half-and-half persons, somewhat like the Samaritans, who were neither Jews nor Gentiles and they asked, at first, that they might join in the building of Jerusalem. This was refused, the Jews determining to keep themselves pure from all association with the heathen or semi-heathen. So indignant were these people at this that they wrote Artaxerxes, the king, to tell him that he was very little aware of what was going on in Judea, for the Jews had always been, from time immemorial, a troublesome people, and now they were beginning to build their city again. And as soon as it was built they would, in all probability, revolt against King Artaxerxes and give him much trouble, as their fathers had done to kings before him. Now, in writing that letter they showed themselves wise in their generation, for they told the king in the words of our text that they were moved by gratitude to write to him. It was false—but hypocrites often use the best of words and employ the best of sense to cover their deceit. They said that they, themselves, were sustained from the king's palace and, therefore, they could not bear that the king should be dishonored—for this reason they had written to tell his majesty that the Jews were building this wall and they trusted that, for his own honor's sake, and for his subjects' sake, he would stop them. Now let me take these words right out of those evil mouths and put them into my own and into yours. They will suit us well if we turn them to the great King of kings. We may truly say, "Now because we have maintenance from the King's palace, and it was not meet for us to see the King dishonored, therefore have we sent and informed the King." The text will enable me to speak on three points.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
THE facts of the case were these. Under Zerubbabel, the Jews, who had returned from Babylon, commenced to rebuild Jerusalem. There were in the land certain half-and-half persons, somewhat like the Samaritans, who were neither Jews nor Gentiles and they asked, at first, that they might join in the building of Jerusalem. This was refused, the Jews determining to keep themselves pure from all association with the heathen or semi-heathen.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
We have maintenance - See the margin. The phrase “to eat a man’s salt” is common in the East to this day; and is applied not only to those who receive salaries, but to all who obtain their subsistence by means of another. The Persian satraps had no salaries, but taxed their provinces for the support of themselves and their courts.
The words behind it
18 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּעַ֗ן | kean | now | H3705 → | 13 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | as to | ||
| קֳבֵל֙ | kovel | because | H6903 → | 29 times |
| דִּֽי־ | di- | that | H1768 → | 345 times |
| מְלַ֤ח | melach | [the] salt of | H4416 → | 3 times |
| הֵֽיכְלָא֙ | heikhela' | palace the | H1965 → | 13 times |
| מְלַ֔חְנָא | melachna' | we eat salt | H4415 → | |
| וְעַרְוַ֣ת | vearvat | and [the] dishonor of | H6173 → | |
| מַלְכָּ֔א | malka' | king the | H4430 → | 180 times |
| לָ֥א | la' | not | H3809 → | 82 times |
| אֲֽרִֽיךְ | ʾarikh | [is] proper | H749 → | |
| לַ֖נָא | lana' | for us | ||
| לְמֶֽחֱזֵ֑א | lemecheze' | to see | H2370 → | |
| עַ֨ל־ | ʾal- | concerning | H5922 → | 104 times |
| דְּנָ֔ה | denah | this | H1836 → | 58 times |
| שְׁלַ֖חְנָא | shelachna' | we have sent | H7972 → | 14 times |
| וְהוֹדַ֥עְנָא | vehoda'na' | and we have made known | H3046 → | 47 times |
| לְמַלְכָּֽא׃ | lemalka' | to king the | H4430 → | 180 times |
כְּעַ֗ןnow
keanH3705 →13 times
כָּל־as to
kol-
קֳבֵל֙because
kovelH6903 →29 times
דִּֽי־that
di-H1768 →345 times
מְלַ֤ח[the] salt of
melachH4416 →3 times
הֵֽיכְלָא֙palace the
heikhela'H1965 →13 times
מְלַ֔חְנָאwe eat salt
melachna'H4415 →
וְעַרְוַ֣תand [the] dishonor of
vearvatH6173 →
מַלְכָּ֔אking the
malka'H4430 →180 times
לָ֥אnot
la'H3809 →82 times
אֲֽרִֽיךְ[is] proper
ʾarikhH749 →
לַ֖נָאfor us
lana'
לְמֶֽחֱזֵ֑אto see
lemecheze'H2370 →
עַ֨ל־concerning
ʾal-H5922 →104 times
דְּנָ֔הthis
denahH1836 →58 times
שְׁלַ֖חְנָאwe have sent
shelachna'H7972 →14 times
וְהוֹדַ֥עְנָאand we have made known
vehoda'na'H3046 →47 times
לְמַלְכָּֽא׃to king the
lemalka'H4430 →180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 33:31So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest…
it leads to
- Matthew 13:22
The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
- Psalms 78:36–37
But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.
- James 1:22–24
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
- Luke 11:28
But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
- Isaiah 29:13
Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught…
- Matthew 13:22
Where this verse is studied
About Ezra
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1097: “Good Cause for Great Zeal” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.