Nehemiah 2:8

2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ¹  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ²  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ³  for the good hand of my God was on me.

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 5:13

5:13 I also shook out my garment, ⁷  and I said, “In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out ⁸  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. ⁹ 

Nehemiah 8:10

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. ¹⁰  Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah 9:29

9:29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹¹  will live. They boldly turned from you; ¹²  they rebelled ¹³  and did not obey.

Nehemiah 11:22

11:22 The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. He was one of Asaph’s descendants who were the singers responsible for the service of the temple of God.

Nehemiah 13:5

13:5 He made for himself a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping ¹⁴  the grain offering, the incense, and the vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil as commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gate keepers, and the offering for the priests.

Nehemiah 13:26

13:26 Was it not because of things like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made ¹⁵  him king over all Israel. But the foreign wives made even him sin!

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¹ tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.

² tc One medieval Hebrew MS, the Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate, and the Arabic read here the plural וּלְחוֹמוֹת (ulÿkhomot, “walls”) against the singular וּלְחוֹמַת (ulÿkhomat) in the MT. The plural holem vav (וֹ) might have dropped out due to dittography or the plural form might have been written defectively.

³ tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.

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 “my bosom.”

⁸ tn Heb “cause to stand.”

⁹ tn Heb “according to this word.”

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

¹¹ tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

¹² tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

¹³ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “giving.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “gave.”