Nehemia 2:4

2:4 The king responded, ¹  “What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven

Nehemia 4:9

4:9 So we prayed to our God and stationed a guard to protect against them ²  both day and night.

Nehemia 5:19

5:19 Please remember me for good, O my God, for all that I have done for this people.

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. ³ 

Nehemia 8:8

8:8 They read from the book of God’s law, explaining it ⁴  and imparting insight. Thus the people ⁵  gained understanding from what was read.

Nehemia 10:32

10:32 We accept responsibility for fulfilling ⁶  the commands to give ⁷  one third of a shekel each year for the work of the temple ⁸  of our God,

Nehemia 11:16

11:16 Shabbethai and Jozabad, leaders ⁹  of the Levites, were in charge of the external work for the temple of God;

Nehemia 12:40

12:40 Then the two choirs that gave thanks took their stations ¹⁰  in the temple of God. I did also, along with half the officials with me,

Nehemia 12:45-46

12:45 They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, according to the commandment of David and ¹¹  his son Solomon. 12:46 For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors ¹²  for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanks to God.

Nehemia 13:4

13:4 But prior to this time, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been appointed over the storerooms ¹³  of the temple of our God.

Nehemia 13:9

13:9 Then I gave instructions that the storerooms should be purified, and I brought back the equipment ¹⁴  of the temple of God, along with the grain offering and the incense.

Nehemia 13:11

13:11 So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking “Why is the temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions. ¹⁵ 

Nehemia 13:29

13:29 Please remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priesthood, ¹⁶  and the Levites.

Nehemia 13:31

13:31 I also provided for ¹⁷  the wood offering at the appointed times and also for the first fruits.

Please remember me for good, O my God.

[2:4]  ¹ tn Heb “said to me.”

[4:9]  ² tn Heb “against them.” The words “to protect” are added in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness. Some emend MT עֲלֵיהֶם (’alehem, “against them”) to עָלֶיהָ (’aleha, “against it,” i.e., Jerusalem).

[6:12]  ³ tn Heb “and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.”

[8:8]  ⁴ tn The exact meaning of the pual participle מְפֹרָשׁ (mÿforash) in this verse is uncertain. The basic sense of the Hebrew word seems to be “to make distinct.” The word may also have the sense of “to divide in parts,” “to interpret,” or “to translate.” The context of Neh 8:8 does not decisively clarify how the participle is to be understood here. It probably refers to the role of the Levites as those who explained or interpreted the portions of biblical text that had been publicly read on this occasion. A different option, however, is suggested by the translation distincte (“distinctly”) of the Vulgate (cf. KJV, ASV). If the Hebrew word means “distinctly” here, it would imply that the readers paid particular attention to such things as word-grouping and pronunciation so as to be sure that the listeners had every opportunity to understand the message that was being read. Yet another view is found in the Talmud, which understands translation of the Hebrew text into Aramaic to be what is in view here. The following explanation of Neh 8:8 is found in b. Megillah 3a: “‘And they read in the book, in the law of God’: this indicates the [Hebrew] text; ‘with an interpretation’: this indicates the targum; ‘and they gave the sense’: this indicates the verse stops; ‘and caused them to understand the reading’: this indicates the accentuation, or, according to another version, the Masoretic notes.” However, this ancient rabbinic view that the origins of the Targum are found in Neh 8:8 is debatable. It is not clear that the practice of paraphrasing the Hebrew biblical text into Aramaic in order to accommodate the needs of those Jews who were not at home in the Hebrew language developed this early. The translation of מְפֹרָשׁ adopted above (i.e., “explaining it”) understands the word to have in mind an explanatory function (cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, NLT) rather than one of translation.

[8:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “cause to stand on us.”

[10:32]  ⁷ tc The MT reads “to give upon us.” However, the term עָלֵינוּ (’alenu, “upon us”) should probably be deleted, following a few medieval Hebrew MSS, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate.

[10:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “house” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39).

[11:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “who were of the heads.”

[12:40]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stood.”

[12:45]  ¹¹ tc With many medieval Hebrew MSS and the ancient versions the translation reads the conjunction (“and”). It is absent in the Leningrad MS that forms the textual basis for BHS.

[12:46]  ¹² tn Heb “heads.” The translation reads with the Qere the plural רֹאשֵׁי (ro’shey, “heads”) rather than the Kethib singular רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “head”) of the MT.

[13:4]  ¹³ tc The translation reads the plural rather than the singular of the MT.

[13:9]  ¹⁴ tn On the usage of this Hebrew word see HALOT 478-79 s.v. כְּלִי.

[13:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and I stood them on their standing.”

[13:29]  ¹⁶ tc One medieval Hebrew MS, the Lucianic Greek recension, and the Syriac Peshitta read the plural הַכֹּהֲנִים (hakkohanim, “the priests”) rather than the singular reading of the MT, הַכְּהֻנָּה (hakkÿhunnah, “the priesthood”).

[13:31]  ¹⁷ tn The words “I also provided for” are not included in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.