Nehemiah 1:5

1:5 Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ¹  with those who love him and obey ²  his commandments,

Nehemiah 3:27

3:27 After them the men of Tekoa worked on another section, from opposite the great protruding tower to the wall of Ophel.

Nehemiah 4:10

4:10 Then those in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers ³  has failed! The debris is so great that we are unable to rebuild the wall.”

Nehemiah 13:27

13:27 Should we then in your case hear that you do all this great evil, thereby being unfaithful to our God by marrying ⁴  foreign wives?”

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¹ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The phrase is a hendiadys: the first noun retains its full nominal sense, while the second noun functions adjectivally (“loyal love” = loving). Alternately, the first might function adjectivally and the second noun function as the noun: “covenant and loyal love” = covenant fidelity (see Neh 9:32).

² tn Heb “keep.” The Hebrew verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to observe; to keep”) is often used as an idiom that means “to obey” the commandments of God (e.g., Exod 20:6; Deut 5:16; 23:24; 29:8; Judg 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:43; 11:11; Ps 119:8, 17, 34; Jer 35:18; Ezek 17:14; Amos 2:4). See BDB 1036 s.v. 3.c.

³ tn Heb “burden-bearers.”

⁴ tn Heb “give a dwelling to.”