Nehemia 2:12

2:12 I got up during the night, along with a few men who were with me. But I did not tell anyone what my God was putting on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me, except for the one ¹  I was riding.

Nehemia 2:16-19

2:16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had been doing, for up to this point I had not told any of the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or the rest of the workers. 2:17 Then I said to them, “You see the problem that we have: Jerusalem is desolate and its gates are burned. Come on! Let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that this reproach will not continue.” 2:18 Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what ²  the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” ³  So they readied themselves ⁴  for this good project. 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard all this, ⁵  they derided us and expressed contempt toward us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

Nehemia 4:1

Opposition to the Work Continues

4:1 (3:33) ⁶  Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became angry and was quite upset. He derided the Jews,

Nehemia 4:11

4:11 Our adversaries also boasted, ⁷  “Before they are aware or anticipate ⁸  anything, we will come in among them and kill them, and we will bring this work to a halt!”

Nehemia 4:15

4:15 It so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, ⁹  God frustrated their intentions. Then all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work.

Nehemia 5:14

5:14 From the day that I was appointed ¹⁰  governor ¹¹  in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes – twelve years in all – neither I nor my relatives ¹²  ate the food allotted to the governor. ¹³ 

Nehemia 5:18

5:18 Every day one ox, six select sheep, and some birds were prepared for me, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Despite all this I did not require the food allotted to the governor, for the work was demanding on this people.

Nehemia 6:2

6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, “Come on! Let’s set up a time to meet together at Kephirim ¹⁴  in the plain of Ono.” Now they intended to do me harm.

Nehemia 6:12

6:12 I recognized the fact that God had not sent him, for he had spoken the prophecy against me as a hired agent of Tobiah and Sanballat. ¹⁵ 

Nehemia 6:16

6:16 When all our enemies heard and all the nations who were around us saw ¹⁶  this, they were greatly disheartened. ¹⁷  They knew that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

Nehemia 7:64

7:64 They searched for their records in the genealogical materials, but none were found. They were therefore excluded ¹⁸  from the priesthood.

Nehemia 9:10

9:10 You performed awesome signs ¹⁹  against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians ²⁰  had acted presumptuously ²¹  against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day.

Nehemia 9:14

9:14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and law to them through ²²  Moses your servant.

Nehemia 10:28

10:28 “Now the rest of the people – the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples ²³  because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand –

Nehemia 13:7

13:7 and I returned to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by supplying him with a storeroom in the courts of the temple of God.

Nehemia 13:10

13:10 I also discovered that the grain offerings for the Levites had not been provided, and that as a result the Levites and the singers who performed this work had all gone off to their fields.

Nehemia 13:13

13:13 I gave instructions ²⁴  that Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a certain Levite named Pedaiah be put in charge of ²⁵  the storerooms, and that Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, be their assistant, ²⁶  for they were regarded as trustworthy. It was then their responsibility to oversee the distribution to their colleagues. ²⁷ 

Nehemia 13:24

13:24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod (or the language of one of the other peoples mentioned ²⁸ ) and were unable to speak the language of Judah.

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “the animal.”

[2:18]  ² tn Heb “the words of the king which he had spoken to me.”

[2:18]  ³ tn Heb “Arise! Let us rebuild!”

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “strengthened their hands.”

[2:19]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text does not include the words “all this,” but they have been added in the translation for clarity.

[4:1]  ⁶ sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:23 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:33 HT, 4:2 ET = 3:34 HT, 4:3 ET = 3:35 HT, 4:4 ET = 3:36 HT, 4:5 ET = 3:37 HT, 4:6 ET = 3:38 HT, 4:7 ET = 4:1 HT, etc., through 4:23 ET = 4:17 HT. Thus in the Hebrew Bible chap. 3 of the Book of Nehemiah has 38 verses, while chap. 4 has only 17 verses.

[4:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “said.”

[4:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “see.”

[4:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “it was known to us.”

[5:14]  ¹⁰ tc The BHS editors suggest reading צֻוֵּאתִי (tsuvve’ti, “and I was appointed”) rather than the reading of the MT, אֹתִי צִוָּה (tsivvah ’oti, “he appointed me”).

[5:14]  ¹¹ tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew MS פֶּחָה (pekhah, “governor”) rather than פֶּחָם (pekham, “their governor”) of the MT. One would expect the form with pronominal suffix to have a tav (ת) before the suffix.

[5:14]  ¹² tn Heb “brothers.”

[5:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “the food of the governor.” Cf. v. 18.

[6:2]  ¹⁴ tn It is not entirely clear whether the Hebrew word כְּפִירִים (kÿfirim) is a place-name not mentioned elsewhere in the OT (as indicated in the present translation; so also NAB, NASB) or whether it means “in [one of] the villages” (so, e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT; see BDB 499 s.v.; HALOT 493 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it in the latter sense. Some scholars connect this term with the identically spelled word כּפירים (“lions”) as a figurative description of princes or warriors (e.g., Pss 34:11; 35:17; 58:7; Jer 2:15; Ezek 32:2, 13; Nah 2:14; see HALOT 493 s.v.): “let us meet together with the leaders in the plain of Ono.”

[6:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.”

[6:16]  ¹⁶ tc The MT understands the root here to be יָרֵא (yare’, “to fear”) rather than רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”).

[6:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they greatly fell [i.e., were cast down] in their own eyes.” Some scholars suggest emending the reading of the MT, וַיִּפְּלוּ (vayyipÿlu) to וַיִּפָּלֵא (vayyippale’, “it was very extraordinary in their eyes”).

[7:64]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they were desecrated.”

[9:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “signs and wonders.” This phrase is a hendiadys. The second noun functions adjectivally, while the first noun retains its full nominal sense: “awesome signs” or “miraculous signs.”

[9:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:10]  ²¹ tn Or “arrogantly” (so NASB); NRSV “insolently.”

[9:14]  ²² tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[10:28]  ²³ tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.

[13:13]  ²⁴ tc Probably one should read with the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate וָאֲצַוֶּה (va’atsavveh, “and I commanded”) rather than the rare denominative verb וָאוֹצְרָה (va’otsÿrah, “and I appointed over the storeroom”) of the MT.

[13:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “be over”

[13:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “on their hand.”

[13:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “brothers.”

[13:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “people and people.”