Artaxerxes

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(brave warrior). (1) A Persian king who stopped the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem (Ezra 4:7,23-24⁷And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, unto Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue. (Ezra 4:7)
²³Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. ²⁴Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4:23‑24)). (2) Another Persian king, friendly to Nehemiah (Neh. 2:1¹And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. (Nehemiah 2:1)).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

1. Persian king, identified as the magian impostor who pretended to be Smerdis the brother of Cambyses. When appealed to by the adversaries of the Jews, he stopped the building of the temple. He was slain after a reign of eight months (Ezra 4:7-8,11,23⁷And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, unto Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue. ⁸Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort: (Ezra 4:7‑8)
¹¹This is the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the king; Thy servants the men on this side the river, and at such a time. (Ezra 4:11)
²³Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. (Ezra 4:23)).

2. Another Persian king, identified as Artaxerxes Longimanus (B.C. 474-434), son of Xerxes, the Ahasuerus of Esther. He greatly favored both Ezra and Nehemiah; he beautified the temple or bore the expense of its being done (Ezra 7:27²⁷Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem: (Ezra 7:27)), and under his protection the wall of the city was finished (Ezra 6:14¹⁴And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. (Ezra 6:14); Ezra 7:1-21¹Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, ²The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, ³The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, ⁴The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, ⁵The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest: ⁶This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. ⁷And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. ⁸And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. ⁹For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. ¹⁰For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. ¹¹Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of his statutes to Israel. ¹²Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time. ¹³I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. ¹⁴Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand; ¹⁵And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, ¹⁶And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem: ¹⁷That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. ¹⁸And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God. ¹⁹The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house. ²¹And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily, (Ezra 7:1‑21); Ezra 8:1¹These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king. (Ezra 8:1); Neh. 2:1¹And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. (Nehemiah 2:1); Neh. 5:14¹⁴Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. (Nehemiah 5:14); Neh. 13:6⁶But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king: (Nehemiah 13:6)). It was in the 20th year of this king that the command to build the city was given, from which began the dates of the prophecy of the Seventy weeks of Daniel, which is fixed by Usher and Hengstenburg at B.C. 454-5. For the succession of the Persian kings see PERSIA.

Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:

Number:

783 (find all occurrences in KJV Bible)

Transliteration:

’Artachshashta’

Phonic:

ar-takh-shash-taw’

Meaning:

or mArtachshasht {ar-takh- shasht'}; or by permutation gArtachshactu {ar-takh-shast'}; of foreign origin; Artachshasta (or Artaxerxes), a title (rather than name) of several Persian kings

KJV Usage:

Artaxerxes

Jackson’s Dictionary of Scripture Proper Names:

I will make the spoiled to boil : I will stir myself (in) winter : I will make the sixth to boil : I will stir myself (with) drink

Potts’ Bible Proper Names:

The great one; silence of light:―the name of several Persian kings, Ezra 4:7. {Magnus}