Nehemiah 5:15

5:15 But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to ¹  forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.

Nehemiah 8:9

8:9 Then Nehemiah the governor, ²  Ezra the priestly scribe, ³  and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them, ⁴  “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.

---

¹ tc The Hebrew term אַחַר (’akhar) is difficult here. It normally means “after,” but that makes no sense here. Some scholars emend it to אַחַד (’akhad) and supply the word “day,” which yields the sense “daily.” Cf. TEV “40 silver coins a day for food and wine.”

² 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.

³ tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.”

⁴ tn Heb “the people.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.