Nehemia 1:11

1:11 Please, ¹  O Lord, listen attentively ²  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ³  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ⁴  in the presence of this man.”

Now ⁵  I was cupbearer for the king.

Nehemia 2:13

2:13 I proceeded through the Valley Gate by night, in the direction of the Well of the Dragons ⁶  and the Dung Gate, ⁷  inspecting ⁸  the walls of Jerusalem that had been breached and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

Nehemia 2:16

2:16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had been doing, for up to this point I had not told any of the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or the rest of the workers.

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, ⁹  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

Nehemia 5:12

5:12 They replied, “We will return these things, ¹⁰  and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials ¹¹  swear to do what had been promised. ¹² 

Nehemia 5:15

5:15 But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to ¹³  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 6:1

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 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 ¹⁴  their family connection ¹⁵  or their ancestry, ¹⁶  as to whether they were really from Israel):

Nehemia 7:63

7:63 And from among the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who had married a woman from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name).

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. ¹⁷  May your glorious name ¹⁸  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

Nehemia 9:10

9:10 You performed awesome signs ¹⁹  against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians ²⁰  had acted presumptuously ²¹  against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day.

[1:11]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”

[1:11]  ³ tn Heb “fear.”

[1:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “grant compassion.” The words “to me” are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style in English.

[1:11]  ⁵ tn The vav (ו) on וַאֲנִי (va’ani, “Now, I”) introduces a disjunctive parenthetical clause that provides background information to the reader.

[2:13]  ⁶ tn Or “Well of the Serpents”; or “Well of the Jackals” (cf. ASV, NIV, NLT).

[2:13]  ⁷ tn Or “Rubbish Gate” (so TEV); NASB “Refuse Gate”; NCV “Trash Gate”; CEV “Garbage Gate.”

[2:13]  ⁸ tc For the MT reading שֹׂבֵר (sover, “inspecting”) the LXX erroneously has שֹׁבֵר (shover, “breaking”). However, further destruction of Jerusalem’s walls was obviously not a part of Nehemiah’s purpose.

[3:15]  ⁹ 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.

[5:12]  ¹⁰ tn The words “these things” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “took an oath from them”; the referents (the wealthy and the officials, cf. v. 7) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:12]  ¹² tn Heb “according to this word.”

[5:15]  ¹³ 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.”

[7:61]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “relate.”

[7:61]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”

[7:61]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “their seed.”

[9:5]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the name of your glory.”

[9:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “signs and wonders.” This phrase is a hendiadys. The second noun functions adjectivally, while the first noun retains its full nominal sense: “awesome signs” or “miraculous signs.”

[9:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:10]  ²¹ tn Or “arrogantly” (so NASB); NRSV “insolently.”