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 5:7

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.

Nehemiah 5:12

5:12 They replied, “We will return these things, ⁹  and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials ¹⁰  swear to do what had been promised. ¹¹ 

Nehemiah 6:6

6:6 Written in it were the following words:

“Among the nations it is rumored ¹²  (and Geshem ¹³  has substantiated ¹⁴  this) that you and the Jews have intentions of revolting, and for this reason you are building the wall. Furthermore, according to these rumors ¹⁵  you are going to become their king.

Nehemiah 8:16

8:16 So the people went out and brought these things ¹⁶  back and constructed temporary shelters for themselves, each on his roof and in his courtyard and in the courtyards of the temple ¹⁷  of God and in the plaza of the Water Gate and the plaza of the Ephraim Gate.

Nehemiah 11:3

11:3 These are the provincial leaders ¹⁸  who settled in Jerusalem. (While other Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple attendants, and the sons of the servants of Solomon settled in the cities of Judah, each on his own property in their cities,

Nehemiah 13:15

13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them on the day that they sold these provisions.

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 ¹⁹  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 “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 The words “these things” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Heb “took an oath from them”; the referents (the wealthy and the officials, cf. v. 7) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Heb “according to this word.”

¹² tn Heb “heard.”

¹³ tn Heb “Gashmu”; in Neh 2:19 this name appears as Geshem. Since it is important for the modern reader to recognize that this is the same individual, the form of the name used here in the translation is the same as that in v. 19.

¹⁴ tn Heb “is saying.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “words.” So also in v. 7.

¹⁶ tn The words “these things” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ tn Heb “the house.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “the heads of the province.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “gave.”