Nehemiah 2:13

2:13 I proceeded through the Valley Gate by night, in the direction of the Well of the Dragons ¹  and the Dung Gate, ²  inspecting ³  the walls of Jerusalem that had been breached and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

Nehemiah 13:21

13:21 But I warned them and said, ⁴  “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!” ⁵  From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath. ⁶ 

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¹ tn Or “Well of the Serpents”; or “Well of the Jackals” (cf. ASV, NIV, NLT).

² tn Or “Rubbish Gate” (so TEV); NASB “Refuse Gate”; NCV “Trash Gate”; CEV “Garbage Gate.”

³ tc For the MT reading שֹׂבֵר (sover, “inspecting”) the LXX erroneously has שֹׁבֵר (shover, “breaking”). However, further destruction of Jerusalem’s walls was obviously not a part of Nehemiah’s purpose.

⁴ tn The Hebrew text includes the words “to them,” but they have been excluded from the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn Heb “I will send a hand on you.”

⁶ sn This statement contains a great deal of restrained humor. The author clearly takes pleasure in the effectiveness of the measures that he had enacted.