Nehemia 6:4-5

6:4 They contacted ¹  me four times in this way, and I responded the same way each time. ² 

6:5 The fifth time that Sanballat sent his assistant to me in this way, he had an open letter in his hand.

Nehemia 6:2

6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, “Come on! Let’s set up a time to meet together at Kephirim ³  in the plain of Ono.” Now they intended to do me harm.

Nehemia 1:9

1:9 But if you repent ⁴  and obey ⁵  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ⁶  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

[6:4]  ¹ tn Heb “sent to.”

[6:4]  ² tn Heb “and I answered them according to this word.”

[6:2]  ³ tn It is not entirely clear whether the Hebrew word כְּפִירִים (kÿfirim) is a place-name not mentioned elsewhere in the OT (as indicated in the present translation; so also NAB, NASB) or whether it means “in [one of] the villages” (so, e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT; see BDB 499 s.v.; HALOT 493 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it in the latter sense. Some scholars connect this term with the identically spelled word כּפירים (“lions”) as a figurative description of princes or warriors (e.g., Pss 34:11; 35:17; 58:7; Jer 2:15; Ezek 32:2, 13; Nah 2:14; see HALOT 493 s.v.): “let us meet together with the leaders in the plain of Ono.”

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “turn to me.”

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

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “at the end of the heavens.”