Nehemiah 5:7-8

5:7 I considered these things carefully ¹  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ²  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ³  from your own countrymen!” ⁴  Because of them I called for ⁵  a great public assembly. 5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ⁶  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ⁷  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

Nehemiah 7:3

7:3 I ⁸  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ⁹  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ¹⁰  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

Nehemiah 9:6

9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, ¹¹  along with all their multitude of stars, ¹²  the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Nehemiah 9:17

9:17 They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. ¹³  But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. ¹⁴  You did not abandon them,

Nehemiah 9:24

9:24 Their descendants ¹⁵  entered and possessed the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites who were the inhabitants of the land. You delivered them into their hand, together with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with as they pleased.

Nehemiah 9:35

9:35 Even when they were in their kingdom and benefiting from your incredible ¹⁶  goodness that you had lavished ¹⁷  on them in the spacious and fertile land you had set ¹⁸  before them, they did not serve you, nor did they turn from their evil practices.

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¹ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

² tn Heb “nobles.”

³ 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.”

⁴ tn Heb “his brothers.”

⁵ tn Heb “I gave.”

⁶ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

⁷ tn Heb “your brothers.”

⁸ tc The present translation (along with most English versions) reads with the Qere, a Qumran text, and the ancient versions וָאֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, which reads וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).

⁹ tn Heb “until the heat of the sun.” The phrase probably means that the gates were to be opened only after the day had progressed a bit, not at the first sign of morning light (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV). It is possible, however, that the Hebrew preposition עַד (’ad), here translated as “until,” has a more rare sense of “during.” If so, this would mean that the gates were not to be left open and unattended during the hot part of the day when people typically would be at rest (cf. NLT).

¹⁰ tn Presumably this would mean the gates were not to be opened until later in the morning and were to remain open until evening. Some, however, have understood Nehemiah’s instructions to mean that the gates were not to be left open during the hottest part of the day, but must be shut and locked while the guards are still on duty. See J. Barr, “Hebrew עַד, especially at Job i.18 and Neh vii.3,” JJS 27 (1982): 177-88.

¹¹ tn Heb “the heavens of the heavens.”

¹² tn Heb “all their host.”

¹³ tc The present translation follows a few medieval Hebrew MSS and the LXX in reading בְּמִצְרָיִם (bÿmitsrayim, “in Egypt”; so also NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT) rather than the MT reading בְּמִרְיָם (bÿmiryam, “in their rebellion”).

¹⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere reading חֶסֶד (khesed, “loyal love”) rather than the Kethib reading וְחֶסֶד (vÿkhesed, “and loyal love”) of the MT.

¹⁵ tn Heb “the sons.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “great.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “given them.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “given.”