Nehemiah 1:4

1:4 When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, ¹  crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 4:5

4:5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not wipe out their sin from before them. For they have bitterly offended ²  the builders! ³ 

---

¹ tn Heb “sat down.” Context suggests that this was a rather sudden action, resulting from the emotional shock of the unpleasant news, so “abruptly” has been supplied in the present translation.

² tn The Hiphil stem of כָּעַס (ka’as) may mean: (1) “to provoke to anger”; (2) “to bitterly offend”; or (3) “to grieve” (BDB 495 s.v. Hiph.; HALOT 491 s.v. כעס hif). The Hebrew lexicons suggest that “bitterly offend” is the most appropriate nuance here.

³ tn Heb “before the builders.” The preposition נֶגֶד (neged, “before”) here connotes “in the sight of” or “in the view of” (BDB 617 s.v. 1.a; HALOT 666 s.v. 1.a).