Nehemiah 2:18

2:18 Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what ¹  the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” ²  So they readied themselves ³  for this good project.

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 4:14

4:14 When I had made an inspection, ⁷  I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, ⁸  and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families!” ⁹ 

Nehemiah 5:7-8

5:7 I considered these things carefully ¹⁰  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ¹¹  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ¹²  from your own countrymen!” ¹³  Because of them I called for ¹⁴  a great public assembly. 5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ¹⁵  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ¹⁶  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

Nehemiah 5:13

5:13 I also shook out my garment, ¹⁷  and I said, “In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out ¹⁸  this matter. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied!” All the assembly replied, “So be it!” and they praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised. ¹⁹ 

Nehemiah 7:3

7:3 I ²⁰  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ²¹  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ²²  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

Nehemiah 8:9-10

8:9 Then Nehemiah the governor, ²³  Ezra the priestly scribe, ²⁴  and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them, ²⁵  “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. ²⁶  Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah 9:5

9:5 The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!”

“May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ²⁷  May your glorious name ²⁸  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

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¹ tn Heb “the words of the king which he had spoken to me.”

² tn Heb “Arise! Let us rebuild!”

³ tn Heb “strengthened their hands.”

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 “And I saw.”

⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

⁹ tn Heb “houses.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

¹¹ tn Heb “nobles.”

¹² 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.”

¹³ tn Heb “his brothers.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “I gave.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “your brothers.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “my bosom.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “cause to stand.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “according to this word.”

²⁰ tc The present translation (along with most English versions) reads with the Qere, a Qumran text, and the ancient versions וָאֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, which reads וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).

²¹ tn Heb “until the heat of the sun.” The phrase probably means that the gates were to be opened only after the day had progressed a bit, not at the first sign of morning light (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV). It is possible, however, that the Hebrew preposition עַד (’ad), here translated as “until,” has a more rare sense of “during.” If so, this would mean that the gates were not to be left open and unattended during the hot part of the day when people typically would be at rest (cf. NLT).

²² tn Presumably this would mean the gates were not to be opened until later in the morning and were to remain open until evening. Some, however, have understood Nehemiah’s instructions to mean that the gates were not to be left open during the hottest part of the day, but must be shut and locked while the guards are still on duty. See J. Barr, “Hebrew עַד, especially at Job i.18 and Neh vii.3,” JJS 27 (1982): 177-88.

²³ 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.

²⁴ tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.”

²⁵ tn Heb “the people.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

²⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

²⁷ tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O LORD our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Ps 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the LORD.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.

²⁸ tn Heb “the name of your glory.”