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 5:7-8

5:7 I considered these things carefully ⁴  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ⁵  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ⁶  from your own countrymen!” ⁷  Because of them I called for ⁸  a great public assembly. 5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ⁹  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ¹⁰  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

Nehemiah 8:9-10

8:9 Then Nehemiah the governor, ¹¹  Ezra the priestly scribe, ¹²  and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them, ¹³  “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. 8:10 He said to them, “Go and eat delicacies and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. ¹⁴  Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah 9:8

9:8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a ¹⁵  covenant with him to give his descendants ¹⁶  the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, ¹⁷  for you are righteous.

Nehemiah 9:19

9:19 “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, ¹⁸  nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.

Nehemiah 9:25

9:25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took possession of houses full of all sorts of good things – wells previously dug, vineyards, olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate until they were full ¹⁹  and grew fat. They enjoyed to the full your great goodness.

Nehemiah 9:27-28

9:27 Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who oppressed them. But in the time of their distress they called to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion you provided them with deliverers to rescue them from ²⁰  their adversaries.

9:28 “Then, when they were at rest again, they went back to doing evil before you. Then you abandoned them to ²¹  their enemies, and they gained dominion over them. When they again cried out to you, in your compassion you heard from heaven and rescued them time and again.

Nehemiah 9:32

9:32 “So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ²²  – do not regard as inconsequential ²³  all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!

Nehemiah 9:35

9:35 Even when they were in their kingdom and benefiting from your incredible ²⁴  goodness that you had lavished ²⁵  on them in the spacious and fertile land you had set ²⁶  before them, they did not serve you, nor did they turn from their evil practices.

Nehemiah 13:22

13:22 Then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

For this please remember me, O my God, and have pity on me in keeping with your great love.

---

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 “my heart was advised upon me.”

⁵ tn Heb “nobles.”

⁶ tn Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun מַשָּׁא (masha’) means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor (HALOT 641-42 s.v.). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to מַשָּׁאָה (masha’ah, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See the note on the word “people” at the end of v. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”

⁷ tn Heb “his brothers.”

⁸ tn Heb “I gave.”

⁹ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “your brothers.”

¹¹ 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.

¹² tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.”

¹³ tn Heb “the people.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

¹⁵ tn Heb “the” (so NAB).

¹⁶ tn Heb “seed.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “your words.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “they ate and were sated.” This expression is a hendiadys. The first verb retains its full verbal sense, while the second functions adverbially: “they ate and were filled” = “they ate until they were full.”

²⁰ tn Heb “from the hand of” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “from the power of.”

²¹ tn Heb “in the hand of” (so KJV, ASV); NAB “to the power of.”

²² tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys. The second noun retains its full nominal sense, while the first functions adjectivally: “the covenant and loyalty” = covenant fidelity.

²³ tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”

²⁴ tn Heb “great.”

²⁵ tn Heb “given them.”

²⁶ tn Heb “given.”