Nehemia 4:4

4:4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised! Return their reproach on their own head! Reduce them to plunder in a land of exile!

Nehemia 4:7

4:7 (4:1) ¹  When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem ²  had moved ahead and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they were very angry.

Nehemia 4:11-13

4:11 Our adversaries also boasted, ³  “Before they are aware or anticipate ⁴  anything, we will come in among them and kill them, and we will bring this work to a halt!”

4:12 So it happened that the Jews who were living near them came and warned us repeatedly ⁵  about all the schemes ⁶  they were plotting ⁷  against us.

4:13 So I stationed people at the lower places behind the wall in the exposed places. ⁸  I stationed the people by families, with their swords, spears, and bows.

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 4:19

4:19 I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is demanding ¹⁰  and extensive, and we are spread out on the wall, far removed from one another.

Nehemia 4:22-23

4:22 At that time I instructed ¹¹  the people, “Let every man and his coworker spend the night in Jerusalem and let them be guards for us by night and workers by day. 4:23 We did not change clothes ¹²  – not I, nor my relatives, nor my workers, nor the watchmen who were with me. Each had his weapon, even when getting a drink of water. ¹³ 

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 ¹⁴  because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand –

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 10:38-39

10:38 A priest of Aaron’s line ¹⁵  will be with the Levites when the Levites collect the tithes, and the Levites will bring up a tenth of the tithes to the temple of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. 10:39 The Israelites and the Levites will bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms where the utensils of the sanctuary are kept, and where the priests who minister stay, along with the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the temple of our God.”

[4:7]  ¹ sn Chapter 4 begins here in the Hebrew text (BHS). See the note at 4:1.

[4:7]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:11]  ³ tn Heb “said.”

[4:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “see.”

[4:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “ten times.”

[4:12]  ⁶ tc The MT reads the anomalous מִכָּל־הַמְּקֹמוֹת (mikkol hammÿqomot, “from every place”) but the BHS editors propose כָּל־הַמְּזִמּוֹת (kol hammÿzimmot, “about every scheme”). The initial mem (מ) found in the MT may have been added accidentally due to dittography with the final mem (ם) on the immediately preceding word, and the MT qof (ק) may have arisen due to orthographic confusion with the similar looking zayin (ז). The emendation restores sense to the line in the MT, which makes little sense and features an abrupt change of referents: “Wherever you turn, they will be upon us!” The threat was not against the villagers living nearby but against those repairing the wall, as the following context indicates. See also the following note on the word “plotting.”

[4:12]  ⁷ tc The MT reads תָּשׁוּבוּ (tashuvu, “you turn”) which is awkward contextually. The BHS editors propose emending to חָשְׁבוּ (hashÿvu, “they were plotting”) which harmonizes well with the context. This emendation involves mere orthographic confusion between similar looking ח (khet) and ת (tav), and the resultant dittography of middle vav (ו) in MT. See also the preceding note on the word “schemes.”

[4:13]  ⁸ tc The MT preserves the anomalous Kethib form צְחִחִיִּים (tsÿkhikhiyyim); the Qere reads צְחִיחִים (tsÿkhikhim) which is preferred (BDB 850 s.v. צָהִיחַ; HALOT 1018 s.v. *צָהִיחַ).

[4:13]  tn The meaning of the Hebrew term צְחִיחִים (tsÿkhikhim) here is uncertain. Elsewhere (Ezek 24:7, 8; 26:4, 14) it refers to a shining or glaring surface of a rock (BDB 850 s.v. צָהִיחַ; HALOT 1018 s.v. *צָהִיחַ), but here it refers to an exposed or vulnerable portion of the wall: “open positions of the wall” (HALOT 1018 s.v. 2).

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

[4:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “much.”

[4:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “said [to].”

[4:23]  ¹² tn Heb “strip off our garments.”

[4:23]  ¹³ tc Heb “a man, his weapon, the waters.” The MT, if in fact it is correct, is elliptical and difficult. Some scholars emend the MT reading הַמָּיִם (hammayim, “the waters”) to בִּמִנוֹ (bimino, “in his right hand”; cf. NAB, NRSV) or מִינוּ(י)הֵ (heminu, “they held on the right side”).

[10:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.

[10:38]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”