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 4:2
Context4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues 3 and the army of Samaria 4 he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? 5 Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”
Nehemiah 5:14
Context5:14 From the day that I was appointed 6 governor 7 in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes – twelve years in all – neither I nor my relatives 8 ate the food allotted to the governor. 9
Nehemiah 5:18
Context5:18 Every day one ox, six select sheep, and some birds were prepared for me, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Despite all this I did not require the food allotted to the governor, for the work was demanding on this people.
Nehemiah 8:9-10
Context8:9 Then Nehemiah the governor, 10 Ezra the priestly scribe, 11 and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them, 12 “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. 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. 13 Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
Nehemiah 9:19
Context9:19 “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, 14 nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.
Nehemiah 9:32
Context9:32 “So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity 15 – do not regard as inconsequential 16 all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!
Nehemiah 12:44
Context12:44 On that day men were appointed over the storerooms for the contributions, first fruits, and tithes, to gather into them from 17 the fields of the cities the portions prescribed by the law for the priests and the Levites, for the people of Judah 18 took delight in the priests and Levites who were ministering. 19
Nehemiah 13:19
Context13:19 When the evening shadows 20 began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered 21 the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned 22 some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.
Nehemiah 13:22
Context13:22 Then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.
For this please remember me, O my God, and have pity on me in keeping with your great love.
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 “brothers.”
4 map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.
5 tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The present translation follows the MT, but the text may be corrupt. H. G. M. Williamson (Ezra, Nehemiah [WBC], 213-14) translates these words as “Will they commit their cause to God?” suggesting that MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”) should be emended to לֵאלֹהִים (lelohim, “to God”), a proposal also found in the apparatus of BHS. In his view later scribes altered the phrase out of theological motivations. J. Blenkinsopp’s translation is similar: “Are they going to leave it all to God?” (Ezra–Nehemiah [OTL], 242-44). However, a problem for this view is the absence of external evidence to support the proposed emendation. The sense of the MT reading may be the notion that the workers – if left to their own limited resources – could not possibly see such a demanding and expensive project through to completion. This interpretation understands the collocation עָזַב (’azav, “to leave”) plus לְ (lÿ, “to”) to mean “commit a matter to someone,” with the sense in this verse “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?”
6 tc The BHS editors suggest reading צֻוֵּאתִי (tsuvve’ti, “and I was appointed”) rather than the reading of the MT, אֹתִי צִוָּה (tsivvah ’oti, “he appointed me”).
7 tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew
8 tn Heb “brothers.”
9 tn Heb “the food of the governor.” Cf. v. 18.
10 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.
11 tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.”
12 tn Heb “the people.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
13 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
14 tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”
15 tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys. The second noun retains its full nominal sense, while the first functions adjectivally: “the covenant and loyalty” = covenant fidelity.
16 tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”
17 tc The translation reads מִשְּׂדֶי (missÿde, “from the fields”) rather than the MT reading לִשְׂדֵי (lisdey, “to the fields”).
18 tn Heb “for Judah.” The words “the people of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, since “Judah” is a proper name as well as a place name.
19 tn Heb “standing.”
20 tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”
21 tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).
22 tn Heb “caused to stand.”
