Nehemia 1:5

1:5 Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ¹  with those who love him and obey ²  his commandments,

Nehemia 2:1

Nehemiah Is Permitted to Go to Jerusalem

2:1 Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought to me, ³  I took the wine and gave it to the king. Previously ⁴  I had not been depressed ⁵  in the king’s presence. ⁶ 

Nehemia 2:8

2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ⁷  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ⁸  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ⁹  for the good hand of my God was on me.

Nehemia 3:15

3:15 Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, worked on the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, put on its roof, and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars. In addition, he rebuilt the wall of the Pool of Siloam, ¹⁰  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

Nehemia 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ¹¹  and the army of Samaria ¹²  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ¹³  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?”

Nehemia 5:12

5:12 They replied, “We will return these things, ¹⁴  and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials ¹⁵  swear to do what had been promised. ¹⁶ 

Nehemia 7:3

7:3 I ¹⁷  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ¹⁸  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ¹⁹  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

Nehemia 9:11

9:11 You split the sea before them, and they crossed through ²⁰  the sea on dry ground! But you threw their pursuers ²¹  into the depths, like a stone into surging ²²  waters.

Nehemia 9:15

9:15 You provided bread from heaven for them in their time of hunger, and you brought forth water from the rock for them in their time of thirst. You told them to enter in order to possess the land that you had sworn ²³  to give them.

Nehemia 9:26

9:26 “Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. ²⁴  They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies.

Nehemia 12:24

12:24 And the leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their colleagues, who stood opposite them to offer praise and thanks, one contingent corresponding to the other, as specified by ²⁵  David the man of God.

Nehemia 12:27

The Wall of Jerusalem is Dedicated

12:27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, ²⁶  they sought out the Levites from all the places they lived ²⁷  to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication joyfully with songs of thanksgiving and songs accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

Nehemia 13:19

13:19 When the evening shadows ²⁸  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ²⁹  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ³⁰  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

Nehemia 13:25

13:25 So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them, and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God saying, “You will not marry off ³¹  your daughters to their sons, and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!

[1:5]  ¹ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The phrase is a hendiadys: the first noun retains its full nominal sense, while the second noun functions adjectivally (“loyal love” = loving). Alternately, the first might function adjectivally and the second noun function as the noun: “covenant and loyal love” = covenant fidelity (see Neh 9:32).

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “keep.” The Hebrew verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to observe; to keep”) is often used as an idiom that means “to obey” the commandments of God (e.g., Exod 20:6; Deut 5:16; 23:24; 29:8; Judg 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:43; 11:11; Ps 119:8, 17, 34; Jer 35:18; Ezek 17:14; Amos 2:4). See BDB 1036 s.v. 3.c.

[2:1]  ³ tc The translation reads with the LXX וְיַיִן לְפָנַי (vÿyayin lÿfanay, “and wine before me”) rather than יַיִן לְפָנָיו (yayin lÿfanayv, “wine before him”) of the MT. The initial vav (ו) on original וְיַיִן probably dropped out due to haplograpy or orthographic confusion with the two yods (י) which follow. The final vav on לְפָנָיו in the MT was probably added due to dittography with the vav on the immediately following word.

[2:1]  ⁴ tc The translation reads לְפָנֵים (lÿfanim, “formerly”) rather than לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “to his face”) of the MT. The MT seems to suggest that Nehemiah was not sad before the king, which is contrary to what follows.

[2:1]  ⁵ tn Or “showed him a sullen face.” See HALOT 1251 s.v. רַע, רָע 9.

[2:1]  ⁶ tn This expression is either to be inferred from the context, or perhaps one should read לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “before him”; cf. the MT) in addition to לְפָנִים (lÿfanim, “formerly”). See preceding note on the word “previously.”

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.

[2:8]  ⁸ tc One medieval Hebrew MS, the Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate, and the Arabic read here the plural וּלְחוֹמוֹת (ulÿkhomot, “walls”) against the singular וּלְחוֹמַת (ulÿkhomat) in the MT. The plural holem vav (וֹ) might have dropped out due to dittography or the plural form might have been written defectively.

[2:8]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.

[3:15]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word translated “Siloam” is הַשֶּׁלַח (hashelakh, “water-channel”; cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV, TEV, CEV “Shelah”). It apparently refers to the Pool of Siloam whose water supply came from the Gihon Spring via Hezekiah’s Tunnel built in 701 B.C. (cf. Isa 8:6). See BDB 1019 s.v. שִׁלֹחַ; W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 372. On the etymology of the word, which is a disputed matter, see HALOT 1517 s.v. III שֶׁלַח.

[4:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ¹² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ¹³ 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?”

[5:12]  ¹⁴ tn The words “these things” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “took an oath from them”; the referents (the wealthy and the officials, cf. v. 7) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “according to this word.”

[7:3]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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.

[9:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the midst of.”

[9:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “those who pursued them.”

[9:11]  ²² tn Heb “mighty.”

[9:15]  ²³ tn Heb “had lifted your hand.”

[9:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “they cast your law behind their backs.”

[12:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in [accord with] the commandment of.”

[12:27]  ²⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[12:27]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from all their places.” The words “they lived” are implied.

[13:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

[13:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

[13:19]  ³⁰ tn Heb “caused to stand.”

[13:25]  ³¹ tn Heb “give.”