You are also informed that no tribute or any other tax is to be laid on any of the priests or Levites or temple singers or gatekeepers or temple servants or persons employed in this temple: The Greek pronoun for You is plural, referring to the royal treasurers responsible for the province in which Judah was located (see verse 19). It is good to make this clear (see the model below). The Greek word for tribute refers to a form of tax (see 1 Esd 2.19; 6.29). Good News Bible renders tribute or any other tax as “any taxes,” which covers the meaning adequately. For priests and Levites, see 1 Esd 1.2-3; for temple singers and gatekeepers see 1 Esd 1.15-16; and for temple servants, see 1 Esd 5.29-32. Persons employed in this temple refers to anyone else working at the Temple in Jerusalem.

And that no one has authority to impose any tax upon them: This clause simply repeats information earlier in the verse, so it may be combined with it (see the models below).

We suggest the following models for this verse:

• I also want it known that no one, not even a royal treasurer, has any authority to lay any kind of tax whatever on any of the priests, the Levites, the Temple singers, the men who stand at the Temple gates, the Temple workmen, or anyone else working at the Temple.

• I also want the royal treasurers to know that no priests, Levites, Temple singers, men who stand at the Temple gates, or anyone else who works at the Temple will have to pay any kind of taxes.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.