Nehemiah 2:3

2:3 I replied to the king, “O king, live forever! Why would I not appear dejected when the city with the graves of my ancestors ¹  lies desolate and its gates destroyed ²  by fire?”

Nehemiah 2:17

2:17 Then I said to them, “You see the problem that we have: Jerusalem is desolate and its gates are burned. Come on! Let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that this reproach will not continue.”

Nehemiah 5:9

5:9 Then I ³  said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong! ⁴  Should you not conduct yourselves ⁵  in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies?

Nehemiah 6:1

Opposition to the Rebuilding Efforts Continues

6:1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it (even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates),

Nehemiah 8:17

8:17 So all the assembly which had returned from the exile constructed temporary shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. Everyone experienced very great joy. ⁶ 

Nehemiah 13:6

13:6 During all this time I was not in Jerusalem, ⁷  for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After some time ⁸  I had requested leave of the king,

Nehemiah 13:10

13:10 I also discovered that the grain offerings for the Levites had not been provided, and that as a result the Levites and the singers who performed this work had all gone off to their fields.

Nehemiah 13:14

13:14 Please remember me for this, O my God, and do not wipe out the kindness that I have done for the temple of my God and for its services!

Nehemiah 13:21

13:21 But I warned them and said, ⁹  “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!” ¹⁰  From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath. ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 5).

² tn Heb “devoured” or “eaten” (so also in Neh 2:13).

³ tc The translation reads with the Qere and the ancient versions וָאוֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the MT Kethib, וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).

⁴ tn Heb “not good.” The statement “The thing…is not good” is an example of tapeinosis, a figurative expression which emphasizes the intended point (“The thing…is wrong!”) by negating its opposite.

⁵ tn Heb “[should you not] walk.”

⁶ tn Heb “And there was very great joy.”

⁷ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁸ tn Heb “to the end of days.”

⁹ tn The Hebrew text includes the words “to them,” but they have been excluded from the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁰ tn Heb “I will send a hand on you.”

¹¹ 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.