Nehemiah 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.

Nehemiah 4:14

4:14 When I had made an inspection, ⁶  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, ⁷  and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families!” ⁸ 

Nehemiah 5:13

5:13 I also shook out my garment, ⁹  and I said, “In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out ¹⁰  this matter. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied!” All the assembly replied, “So be it!” and they praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised. ¹¹ 

Nehemiah 8:9

8:9 Then Nehemiah the governor, ¹²  Ezra the priestly scribe, ¹³  and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them, ¹⁴  “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law.

Nehemiah 9:6

9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, ¹⁵  along with all their multitude of stars, ¹⁶  the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Nehemiah 10:34

10:34 “We – the priests, the Levites, and the people – have cast lots concerning the wood offerings, to bring them to the temple of our God according to our families ¹⁷  at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law.

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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).

² tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”

³ tn Heb “fear.”

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

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

⁶ tn Heb “And I saw.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

⁸ tn Heb “houses.”

⁹ tn Heb “my bosom.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “cause to stand.”

¹¹ tn Heb “according to this word.”

¹² tc The unexpected reference to Nehemiah here has led some scholars to suspect that the phrase “Nehemiah the governor” is a later addition to the text and not original.

¹³ tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “the people.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

¹⁵ tn Heb “the heavens of the heavens.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “all their host.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”