Nehemia 4:16

4:16 From that day forward, half of my men were doing the work and half of them were taking up spears, ¹  shields, bows, and body armor. Now the officers were behind all the people ²  of Judah

Nehemia 7:3

7:3 I ³  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ⁴  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ⁵  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

Nehemia 13:19

13:19 When the evening shadows ⁶  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ⁷  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ⁸  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

[4:16]  ¹ tc The MT reads “and spears.” The conjunction should be deleted.

[4:16]  ² tn Heb “all the house.”

[7:3]  ³ tc The present translation (along with most English versions) reads with the Qere, a Qumran text, and the ancient versions וָאֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, which reads וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).

[7:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “until the heat of the sun.” The phrase probably means that the gates were to be opened only after the day had progressed a bit, not at the first sign of morning light (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV). It is possible, however, that the Hebrew preposition עַד (’ad), here translated as “until,” has a more rare sense of “during.” If so, this would mean that the gates were not to be left open and unattended during the hot part of the day when people typically would be at rest (cf. NLT).

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Presumably this would mean the gates were not to be opened until later in the morning and were to remain open until evening. Some, however, have understood Nehemiah’s instructions to mean that the gates were not to be left open during the hottest part of the day, but must be shut and locked while the guards are still on duty. See J. Barr, “Hebrew עַד, especially at Job i.18 and Neh vii.3,” JJS 27 (1982): 177-88.

[13:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

[13:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

[13:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “caused to stand.”