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 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, ³  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

Nehemia 3:27

3:27 After them the men of Tekoa worked on another section, from opposite the great protruding tower to the wall of Ophel.

Nehemia 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ⁴  and the army of Samaria ⁵  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ⁶  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 5:14-15

5:14 From the day that I was appointed ⁷  governor ⁸  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 ⁹  ate the food allotted to the governor. ¹⁰  5:15 But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to ¹¹  forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.

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 6:7

6:7 You have also established prophets to announce ¹²  in Jerusalem ¹³  on your behalf, ‘We have a king in Judah!’ Now the king is going to hear about these rumors. So come on! Let’s talk about this.” ¹⁴ 

Nehemia 7:61

7:61 These are the ones who came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer (although they were unable to certify ¹⁵  their family connection ¹⁶  or their ancestry, ¹⁷  as to whether they were really from Israel):

Nehemia 8:17

8:17 So all the assembly which had returned from the exile constructed temporary shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. Everyone experienced very great joy. ¹⁸ 

Nehemia 9:29-30

9:29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹⁹  will live. They boldly turned from you; ²⁰  they rebelled ²¹  and did not obey. 9:30 You prolonged your kindness ²²  with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, ²³  so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ²⁴ 

Nehemia 10:34

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 ²⁵  at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law.

Nehemia 10:36

10:36 We also accept responsibility, as is written in the law, for bringing the firstborn of our sons and our cattle and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks to the temple of our God, to the priests who are ministering in the temple of our God.

Nehemia 11:25

11:25 As for the settlements with their fields, some of the people of Judah settled in Kiriath Arba and its neighboring villages, ²⁶  in Dibon and its villages, in Jekabzeel and its settlements,

Nehemia 12:43

12:43 And on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard from far away.

[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.

[3:15]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ⁵ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ⁶ 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?”

[5:14]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[5:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the food of the governor.” Cf. v. 18.

[5:15]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew term אַחַר (’akhar) is difficult here. It normally means “after,” but that makes no sense here. Some scholars emend it to אַחַד (’akhad) and supply the word “day,” which yields the sense “daily.” Cf. TEV “40 silver coins a day for food and wine.”

[6:7]  ¹² tn Heb “call.”

[6:7]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Let us consult together.”

[7:61]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “relate.”

[7:61]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”

[7:61]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “their seed.”

[8:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And there was very great joy.”

[9:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[9:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

[9:29]  ²¹ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

[9:30]  ²² tn The Hebrew expression here is elliptical. The words “your kindness” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:30]  ²³ tn Heb “did not give ear to.”

[9:30]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[10:34]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”

[11:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “its daughters.” So also in vv. 27, 28, 30, and 31.