Nehemiah 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ¹  and the army of Samaria ²  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ³  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

Nehemiah 4:14

4:14 When I had made an inspection, ⁴  I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, ⁵  and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families!” ⁶ 

Nehemiah 10:29

10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ⁷  and enter into a curse and an oath ⁸  to adhere to ⁹  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ¹⁰  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ¹¹  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

Nehemiah 10:31

10:31 We will not buy ¹²  on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan. ¹³ 

Nehemiah 10:33-34

10:33 for the loaves of presentation and for the regular grain offerings and regular burnt offerings, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the appointed meetings, for the holy offerings, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the temple of our God.

10:34 “We – the priests, the Levites, and the people – have cast lots concerning the wood offerings, to bring them to the temple of our God according to our families ¹⁴  at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law.

Nehemiah 10:37

10:37 We will also bring the first of our coarse meal, of our contributions, of the fruit of every tree, of new wine, and of olive oil to the priests at the storerooms of the temple of our God, along with a tenth of the produce ¹⁵  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ¹⁶ 

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ³ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The present translation follows the MT, but the text may be corrupt. H. G. M. Williamson (Ezra, Nehemiah [WBC], 213-14) translates these words as “Will they commit their cause to God?” suggesting that MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”) should be emended to לֵאלֹהִים (lelohim, “to God”), a proposal also found in the apparatus of BHS. In his view later scribes altered the phrase out of theological motivations. J. Blenkinsopp’s translation is similar: “Are they going to leave it all to God?” (Ezra–Nehemiah [OTL], 242-44). However, a problem for this view is the absence of external evidence to support the proposed emendation. The sense of the MT reading may be the notion that the workers – if left to their own limited resources – could not possibly see such a demanding and expensive project through to completion. This interpretation understands the collocation עָזַב (’azav, “to leave”) plus לְ (lÿ, “to”) to mean “commit a matter to someone,” with the sense in this verse “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?”

[4:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “And I saw.”

[4:14]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[4:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “houses.”

[10:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ⁸ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:31]  ¹² tn Heb “take.”

[10:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

[10:34]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”

[10:37]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”

[10:37]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “of our work.”