Nehemia 1:9

1:9 But if you repent ¹  and obey ²  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ³  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

Nehemia 1:11

1:11 Please, ⁴  O Lord, listen attentively ⁵  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ⁶  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ⁷  in the presence of this man.”

Now ⁸  I was cupbearer for the king.

Nehemia 2:8

2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ⁹  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ¹⁰  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ¹¹  for the good hand of my God was on me.

Nehemia 2:17-18

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 ¹²  the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” ¹³  So they readied themselves ¹⁴  for this good project.

Nehemia 3:1

The Names of the Builders

3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest and his priestly colleagues ¹⁵  arose and built the Sheep Gate. They dedicated ¹⁶  it and erected its doors, working as far as the Tower of the Hundred ¹⁷  and ¹⁸  the Tower of Hananel.

Nehemia 3:13

3:13 Hanun and the residents of Zanoah worked on the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars, in addition to working on fifteen hundred feet ¹⁹  of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.

Nehemia 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ²⁰  and the army of Samaria ²¹  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ²²  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 4:14-15

4:14 When I had made an inspection, ²³  I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, ²⁴  and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families!” ²⁵ 

4:15 It so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, ²⁶  God frustrated their intentions. Then all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work.

Nehemia 5:5

5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ²⁷  and our children are just like their children, ²⁸  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ²⁹  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ³⁰  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ³¹ 

Nehemia 5:7

5:7 I considered these things carefully ³²  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ³³  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ³⁴  from your own countrymen!” ³⁵  Because of them I called for ³⁶  a great public assembly.

Nehemia 6:1

Opposition to the Rebuilding Efforts Continues

6:1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it (even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates),

Nehemia 6:18

6:18 For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him, ³⁷  because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah. His son Jonathan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.

Nehemia 7:5

7:5 My God placed it on my heart to gather the leaders, ³⁸  the officials, and the ordinary people so they could be enrolled on the basis of genealogy. I found the genealogical records ³⁹  of those who had formerly returned. Here is what I found written in that record: ⁴⁰ 

Nehemia 8:7

8:7 Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah – all of whom were Levites ⁴¹  – were teaching the people the law, as the people remained standing.

Nehemia 9:5

9:5 The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!”

“May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ⁴²  May your glorious name ⁴³  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

Nehemia 9:17

9:17 They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. ⁴⁴  But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. ⁴⁵  You did not abandon them,

Nehemia 9:19

9:19 “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, ⁴⁶  nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.

Nehemia 9:22

9:22 “You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and you allocated them to every corner of the land. ⁴⁷  They inherited the land of King Sihon of Heshbon ⁴⁸  and the land of King Og of Bashan.

Nehemia 9:26

9:26 “Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. ⁴⁹  They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies.

Nehemia 9:32

9:32 “So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ⁵⁰  – do not regard as inconsequential ⁵¹  all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!

Nehemia 10:29

10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ⁵²  and enter into a curse and an oath ⁵³  to adhere to ⁵⁴  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ⁵⁵  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ⁵⁶  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

Nehemia 10:38

10:38 A priest of Aaron’s line ⁵⁷  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.

Nehemia 13:5

13:5 He made for himself a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping ⁵⁸  the grain offering, the incense, and the vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil as commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gate keepers, and the offering for the priests.

Nehemia 13:22

13:22 Then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

For this please remember me, O my God, and have pity on me in keeping with your great love.

[1:9]  ¹ tn Heb “turn to me.”

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[1:9]  ³ tn Heb “at the end of the heavens.”

[1:11]  ⁴ tn The interjection אָנָּא (’anna’) is an emphatic term of entreaty: “please!” (BDB 58 s.v.; HALOT 69-70 s.v.). This term is normally reserved for pleas for mercy from God in life-and-death situations (2 Kgs 20:3 = Isa 38:3; Pss 116:4; 118:25; Jonah 1:14; 4:2) and for forgiveness of heinous sins that would result or have resulted in severe judgment from God (Exod 32:31; Dan 9:4; Neh 1:5, 11).

[1:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”

[1:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “fear.”

[1:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “grant compassion.” The words “to me” are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style in English.

[1:11]  ⁸ tn The vav (ו) on וַאֲנִי (va’ani, “Now, I”) introduces a disjunctive parenthetical clause that provides background information to the reader.

[2:8]  ⁹ tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.

[2:8]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.

[2:18]  ¹² tn Heb “the words of the king which he had spoken to me.”

[2:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “Arise! Let us rebuild!”

[2:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “strengthened their hands.”

[3:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his brothers the priests.”

[3:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “consecrated” (so NASB, NRSV); KJV, ASV “sanctified”; NCV “gave it to the Lord’s service.”

[3:1]  ¹⁷ tc The MT adds קִדְּשׁוּהוּ (qidshuhu, “they sanctified it”). This term is repeated from the first part of the verse, probably as an intentional scribal addition to harmonize this statement with the preceding parallel statement.

[3:1]  ¹⁸ tc The translation reads וְעַד (vÿ’ad, “and unto”) rather than the MT reading עַד (ad, “unto”). The original vav (ו) was probably dropped accidentally due to haplography with the final vav on the immediately preceding word in the MT.

[3:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “one thousand cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long, so this section of the wall would be about fifteen hundred feet (450 m).

[4:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ²¹ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ²² 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?”

[4:14]  ²³ tn Heb “And I saw.”

[4:14]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[4:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “houses.”

[4:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “it was known to us.”

[5:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

[5:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

[5:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

[5:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

[5:5]  ³¹ sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).

[5:7]  ³² tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

[5:7]  ³³ tn Heb “nobles.”

[5:7]  ³⁴ tn Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun מַשָּׁא (masha’) means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor (HALOT 641-42 s.v.). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to מַשָּׁאָה (masha’ah, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See the note on the word “people” at the end of v. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”

[5:7]  ³⁵ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[5:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “I gave.”

[6:18]  ³⁷ tn Heb “were lords of oath.”

[7:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “nobles”; NCV “important men.”

[7:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the book of genealogy.”

[7:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “in it”; the referent (the genealogical record) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:7]  ⁴¹ tc The MT reads “and the Levites.” The conjunction (“and”) should be deleted, following the LXX, Aquila, and the Vulgate. That the vav (ו) of the MT is the vav explicativum (“even the Levites”) is unlikely here.

[9:5]  ⁴² tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O LORD our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Ps 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the LORD.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.

[9:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the name of your glory.”

[9:17]  ⁴⁴ tc The present translation follows a few medieval Hebrew MSS and the LXX in reading בְּמִצְרָיִם (bÿmitsrayim, “in Egypt”; so also NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT) rather than the MT reading בְּמִרְיָם (bÿmiryam, “in their rebellion”).

[9:17]  ⁴⁵ tc The translation follows the Qere reading חֶסֶד (khesed, “loyal love”) rather than the Kethib reading וְחֶסֶד (vÿkhesed, “and loyal love”) of the MT.

[9:19]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”

[9:22]  ⁴⁷ tn The words “of the land” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:22]  ⁴⁸ tc Most Hebrew MSS read “the land of Sihon and the land of the king of Heshbon.” The present translation (along with NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, CEV, NLT) follows the reading of one Hebrew MS, the LXX, and the Vulgate.

[9:26]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “they cast your law behind their backs.”

[9:32]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys. The second noun retains its full nominal sense, while the first functions adjectivally: “the covenant and loyalty” = covenant fidelity.

[9:32]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”

[10:29]  ⁵² tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ⁵³ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ⁵⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:38]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”

[13:5]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “giving.”