Nehemiah 1:9

1:9 But if you repent ¹  and obey ²  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ³  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

Nehemiah 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ⁴  and the army of Samaria ⁵  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ⁶  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

Nehemiah 8:15

8:15 and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message ⁷  in all their cities and in Jerusalem: ⁸  “Go to the hill country and bring back olive branches and branches of wild olive trees, myrtle trees, date palms, and other leafy trees to construct temporary shelters, as it is written.”

Nehemiah 10:31

10:31 We will not buy ⁹  on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan. ¹⁰ 

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 ¹¹  at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law.

Nehemiah 10:38-39

10:38 A priest of Aaron’s line ¹²  will be with the Levites when the Levites collect the tithes, and the Levites will bring up a tenth of the tithes to the temple of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. 10:39 The Israelites and the Levites will bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms where the utensils of the sanctuary are kept, and where the priests who minister stay, along with the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the temple of our God.”

Nehemiah 12:27

The Wall of Jerusalem is Dedicated

12:27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, ¹³  they sought out the Levites from all the places they lived ¹⁴  to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication joyfully with songs of thanksgiving and songs accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

---

¹ tn Heb “turn to me.”

² tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

³ tn Heb “at the end of the heavens.”

⁴ tn Heb “brothers.”

⁵ map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

⁶ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The present translation follows the MT, but the text may be corrupt. H. G. M. Williamson (Ezra, Nehemiah [WBC], 213-14) translates these words as “Will they commit their cause to God?” suggesting that MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”) should be emended to לֵאלֹהִים (lelohim, “to God”), a proposal also found in the apparatus of BHS. In his view later scribes altered the phrase out of theological motivations. J. Blenkinsopp’s translation is similar: “Are they going to leave it all to God?” (Ezra–Nehemiah [OTL], 242-44). However, a problem for this view is the absence of external evidence to support the proposed emendation. The sense of the MT reading may be the notion that the workers – if left to their own limited resources – could not possibly see such a demanding and expensive project through to completion. This interpretation understands the collocation עָזַב (’azav, “to leave”) plus לְ (lÿ, “to”) to mean “commit a matter to someone,” with the sense in this verse “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?”

⁷ tn Heb “a voice.”

⁸ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁹ tn Heb “take.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

¹¹ tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”

¹² tn Heb “And the priest the son of Aaron.”

¹³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁴ tn Heb “from all their places.” The words “they lived” are implied.