Discovery BoxNehemiah 1:6 
Context1:6 may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed 1 against you – both I myself and my family 2 have sinned.
Nehemiah 2:12
Context2:12 I got up during the night, along with a few men who were with me. But I did not tell anyone what my God was putting on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me, except for the one 3 I was riding.
Nehemiah 5:7
Context5:7 I considered these things carefully 4 and then registered a complaint with the wealthy 5 and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral 6 from your own countrymen!” 7 Because of them I called for 8 a great public assembly.
Nehemiah 13:19
Context13:19 When the evening shadows 9 began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered 10 the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned 11 some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.
1 tn Heb “have sinned.” For stylistic reasons – to avoid redundancy in English – this was translated as “committed.”
2 tn Heb “the house of my father.”
3 tn Heb “the animal.”
4 tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”
5 tn Heb “nobles.”
6 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
7 tn Heb “his brothers.”
8 tn Heb “I gave.”
9 tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”
10 tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).
11 tn Heb “caused to stand.”
