mid.dah denotes a levy owed to governing authorities, whether collected, withheld, or assigned as a revenue source.

The term denotes a levy connected with royal or provincial administration: it may be withheld from rulers, paid to them, used as a source for expenses, or excluded from imposition on specified temple personnel.

1. A governmental levy or revenue payment · dominant

   In Ezra 4:13, the singular absolute form occurs in the warning that a rebuilt city will not make the payments listed to the king; in Ezra 4:20, the same singular absolute form is in the statement that such payments were given to strong kings. Ezra 6:8 has the singular construct form in the clause making provincial revenue the source for the elders' expenses, while Ezra 7:24 forbids imposing it on named temple personnel.

   Ezra 4:13Ezra 4:20Ezra 6:8Ezra 7:24

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the item as “tribute” in each verse, alongside other payment categories or within a prohibition on imposing them. Its wording confirms the administrative-payment setting rather than isolating the term's precise English equivalent.