H3706 H3706
and now (Aramaic); formulaic phrase introducing the main business of official letters
This Aramaic adverbial phrase, a contraction of a longer form, serves as an epistolary formula in official correspondence. It introduces the substantive business of a letter after the greeting, functioning like 'and now to the matter at hand.' All its biblical occurrences appear in letters preserved in Ezra's Aramaic sections, where Persian officials write to and from the Jewish community. The phrase was formerly misunderstood as 'and so forth,' but Egyptian Aramaic papyri confirmed its meaning as 'and now,' marking the transition from letter opening to body.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The phrase appears four times in official letters within Ezra's Aramaic chapters. It introduces the body of the letter from Rehum and Shimshai: 'and now, let it be known to the king...' (Ezra 4:11-12). King Artaxerxes begins his response: 'and now, the letter which you sent...' (Ezra 4:17). A later royal letter opens: 'and now, I make a decree...' (Ezra 7:12). Earlier manuscripts mistakenly included it at the end of verse 10 (Ezra 4:10) by scribal error. Spanish y-ahora and French et-maintenant preserve the temporal 'and now' sense, while German leaves the Aramaic forms in brackets, recognizing the technical epistolary function. 4×
AR["وَ-الآنَ"]·ben["আর-এখন"]·DE["[וכענת]", "[וכעת]"]·EN["and-now", "and-so-forth"]·FR["[וכעת]", "et-maintenant"]·heb["ו-כענת", "ו-כעת"]·HI["इत्यादि"]·ID["dan-seterusnya"]·IT["[וכעת]", "e-ora"]·jav["lan-sapunika"]·KO["그리고-이제"]·PT["e-agora"]·RU["и-ныне"]·ES["y-ahora", "y-ahora."]·SW["na-sasa"]·TR["ve-simdi"]·urd["اور-اب"]
Related Senses
H3117 1. day, specific time (2231×)H5704 1. until, unto, as far as (1238×)H8141 1. year, unit of time (880×)H6258 1. and now (421×)G2250 1. day (388×)H5750 1. again, more, further (288×)H5769 1. forever, to eternity (280×)H6256 1. time, period (264×)H2320 1. month, calendar period (260×)H0310a 2. after (temporal) (258×)H3915 1. night, period of darkness (234×)H1242 1. morning (214×)H5750 2. still, yet (continuative) (166×)G5119 1. then (160×)G3568 1. now (147×)G2193 1. until (143×)G3825 1. (141×)G3752 1. (123×)H6153 1. evening, time of day (123×)H0227a 1. then (122×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† כְּעֶ֫נֶת and (Ezr 4:17) contr. כְּעֶת adv. now (f. of כְּעַן; so first SS TorreyJBL 16 (1897), 166 ff.; now confirmed by Egyptian Aramaic כענת Cowley PSBA xxv. 264, 311, 312 (= RÉS 492–4 = S-C M, N, O); וכ׳ formerly taken to mean and so forth);—always וּכ׳, and always in a letter, introducing the business of the letter, and to be connected with what follows, not, as MT, with what precedes: Ezr…