Nehemia 1:2

1:2 Hanani, who was one of my relatives, ¹  along with some of the men from Judah, came to me, ²  and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem. ³ 

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.’

Nehemia 7:3

7:3 I ⁷  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ⁸  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ⁹  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

Nehemia 13:19

13:19 When the evening shadows ¹⁰  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ¹¹  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ¹²  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

[1:2]  ¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[1:2]  ² tn The Hebrew text does not include the words “to me”; these words were supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[1:2]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[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.”

[7:3]  ⁷ tc The present translation (along with most English versions) reads with the Qere, a Qumran text, and the ancient versions וָאֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, which reads וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).

[7:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “until the heat of the sun.” The phrase probably means that the gates were to be opened only after the day had progressed a bit, not at the first sign of morning light (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV). It is possible, however, that the Hebrew preposition עַד (’ad), here translated as “until,” has a more rare sense of “during.” If so, this would mean that the gates were not to be left open and unattended during the hot part of the day when people typically would be at rest (cf. NLT).

[7:3]  ⁹ tn Presumably this would mean the gates were not to be opened until later in the morning and were to remain open until evening. Some, however, have understood Nehemiah’s instructions to mean that the gates were not to be left open during the hottest part of the day, but must be shut and locked while the guards are still on duty. See J. Barr, “Hebrew עַד, especially at Job i.18 and Neh vii.3,” JJS 27 (1982): 177-88.

[13:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

[13:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

[13:19]  ¹² tn Heb “caused to stand.”