¹ sn In ancient Judaism Ezra and Nehemiah were regarded as a single book with dual authorship. According to the Talmud, “Ezra wrote his book” (b. Bava Batra 15a). The Gemara then asks and answers, “And who finished it? Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.” Accordingly, the two are joined in the Leningrad Codex (ca. A.D. 1008), the manuscript upon which modern printed editions of the Hebrew Bible (e.g., BHK and BHS) are based.

² sn The name Nehemiah in Hebrew (נְחֶמְיָה, nÿkhemyah) means “the LORD comforts.”

³ tn That is, the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign (cf. 2:1).

⁴ tn Heb “Shushan.”

⁵ tc The reference to daughters, while not impossible, is odd in light of the cultural improbability that young women would participate in the strenuous labor of rebuilding city walls. All other such references in the Book of Nehemiah presuppose male laborers. Not surprisingly, some scholars suspect a textual problem. One medieval Hebrew MS and the Syriac Peshitta read וּבָנָיו (uvanayv, “and his sons”) rather than the MT reading וּבְנוֹתָיו (uvÿnotayv, “and his daughters”). Some scholars emend the MT to וּבֹנָיו (uvonayv, “and his builders”). On the other hand, the MT is clearly the more difficult reading, and so it is preferred.

⁶ tc The translation reads וְעַל (vÿ’al, “and unto”) with several medieval Hebrew MSS and some MSS of LXX, rather than the MT reading עַל (’al, “unto”).

⁷ tn Or “the Book of the Annals” (so NRSV); NLT “The Book of History.”

⁸ tc With many medieval Hebrew MSS and the ancient versions the translation reads the conjunction (“and”). It is absent in the Leningrad MS that forms the textual basis for BHS.