Esdra 4:14

La Nuova Diodati

Ora, poich noi riceviamo sostentamento dal palazzo e non ci sembra giusto vedere il disonore del re, perci mandiamo questa informazione al re,

Parallel Translations

Riveduta Bibbia
Or siccome noi mangiamo il sale del palazzo e non ci sembra conveniente lo stare a vedere il danno del re, mandiamo al re questa informazione.

Giovanni Diodati Bibbia
Ora, conciossiach� noi siamo salariati dal palazzo, e non sia cosa conveniente a noi il vedere che il re sia schernito, perci� abbiamo mandato a fare assapere la cosa al re.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

have maintenance: etc. Chal, are salted with the salt of the palace, Salt is reckoned among the principal necessaries of life - Ecclesiastes 39:26, or verse 31 hence, by a very natural figure, salt is used for food or maintenance in general. I am well informed, says Mr. Parkhurst, that it is a common expression of the natives in the East Indies, "I eat such a one's salt," meaning, I am fed by him. Salt was also, as it still is, among eastern nations, a symbol of friendship and hospitality; and hence, to eat a man's salt, is to be bound to him by the ties of friendship.

and it was: Ezekiel 33:31, John 12:5, John 12:6, John 19:12-15

Reciprocal: Nehemiah 5:14 - the bread

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace,.... Have posts under the king, to which salaries were annexed, by which they were supported, and which they had from the king's exchequer; or "salt" o, as in the original, some places of honour and trust formerly being paid in salt; hence, as Pliny p observes, such honours and rewards were called "salaries":

and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonour; to see any thing done injurious to his crown and dignity, to his honour and revenues, when we are supported by him; this would be ungrateful as well as unjust:

therefore have we sent and certified the king; of the truth of what is before related; and, for the further confirmation of it, refer him to the ancient records of the kingdom, as follows.

o מלח "salem vel sale", Montanus, Vatablus, Michaelis. p Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 7.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 14. Now 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. These hypocrites intimated that they felt their conscience bound by the league between them and the king; and therefore could not conscientiously see any thing going on that was likely to turn to the king's damage. They were probably also persons in the pay of the Persian king.