Nehemiah 7:3

7:3 I ¹  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ²  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ³  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

Nehemiah 7:5

7:5 My God placed it on my heart to gather the leaders, ⁴  the officials, and the ordinary people so they could be enrolled on the basis of genealogy. I found the genealogical records ⁵  of those who had formerly returned. Here is what I found written in that record: ⁶ 

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. ⁷  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, ⁸  will live. They boldly turned from you; ⁹  they rebelled ¹⁰  and did not obey.

Nehemiah 10:28

10:28 “Now the rest of the people – the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples ¹¹  because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand –

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.

---

¹ 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”).

² 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).

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “nobles”; NCV “important men.”

⁵ tn Heb “the book of genealogy.”

⁶ tn Heb “in it”; the referent (the genealogical record) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

⁸ tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

⁹ tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

¹¹ tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.