Nehemiah 3:5

3:5 The men of Tekoa worked on the section adjacent to them, but their town leaders ¹  would not assist ²  with the work of their master. ³ 

Nehemiah 4:4-5

4:4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised! Return their reproach on their own head! Reduce them to plunder in a land of exile! 4:5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not wipe out their sin from before them. For they have bitterly offended ⁴  the builders! ⁵ 

Nehemiah 4:18

4:18 The builders to a man had their swords strapped to their sides while they were building. But the trumpeter ⁶  remained with me.

Nehemiah 9:2

9:2 Those truly of Israelite descent ⁷  separated from all the foreigners, ⁸  standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. ⁹ 

Nehemiah 9:20-21

9:20 You imparted your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths; you provided water for their thirst. 9:21 For forty years you sustained them. Even in the desert they never lacked anything. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

Nehemiah 9:23

9:23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky. You brought them to the land you had told their ancestors to enter in order to possess.

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¹ tn Heb “their nobles.”

² tn Heb “bring their neck.”

³ tn The plural form אֲדֹנֵיהֶם (’adonehem, “lords”) is probably a plural of majesty referring to Nehemiah (e.g., Isa 19:4; see GKC 399 §124.i). However, some English versions take the plural to refer to the “supervisors” (NIV, NCV, TEV) and others to “their Lord” (KJV, NRSV).

⁴ tn The Hiphil stem of כָּעַס (ka’as) may mean: (1) “to provoke to anger”; (2) “to bitterly offend”; or (3) “to grieve” (BDB 495 s.v. Hiph.; HALOT 491 s.v. כעס hif). The Hebrew lexicons suggest that “bitterly offend” is the most appropriate nuance here.

⁵ tn Heb “before the builders.” The preposition נֶגֶד (neged, “before”) here connotes “in the sight of” or “in the view of” (BDB 617 s.v. 1.a; HALOT 666 s.v. 1.a).

⁶ tn Heb “the one blowing the shophar.”

⁷ tn Heb “the seed of Israel.”

⁸ tn Heb “sons of a foreigner.”

⁹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 16, 23, 32, 34, 36).