Discovery BoxNehemiah 2:10 
Context2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official 1 heard all this, they were very displeased that someone had come to seek benefit for the Israelites.
Nehemiah 4:12
Context4:12 So it happened that the Jews who were living near them came and warned us repeatedly 2 about all the schemes 3 they were plotting 4 against us.
Nehemiah 5:16-17
Context5:16 I gave myself to the work on this wall, without even purchasing 5 a field. All my associates were gathered there for the work.
5:17 There were 150 Jews and officials who dined with me routinely, 6 in addition to those who came to us from the nations 7 all around us.
Nehemiah 6:8
Context6:8 I sent word back to him, “We are not engaged in these activities you are describing. 8 All of this is a figment of your imagination.” 9
Nehemiah 9:2
Context9:2 Those truly of Israelite descent 10 separated from all the foreigners, 11 standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. 12
Nehemiah 9:33
Context9:33 You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. 13 It is we who have been in the wrong!
Nehemiah 11:20
Context11:20 And the rest of the Israelites, with the priests and the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, each on his own property.
Nehemiah 13:27
Context13:27 Should we then in your case hear that you do all this great evil, thereby being unfaithful to our God by marrying 14 foreign wives?”
1 tn Heb “servant” (so KJV, ASV; NAB “slave”; NCV “officer.” This phrase also occurs in v. 19.
2 tn Heb “ten times.”
3 tc The MT reads the anomalous מִכָּל־הַמְּקֹמוֹת (mikkol hammÿqomot, “from every place”) but the BHS editors propose כָּל־הַמְּזִמּוֹת (kol hammÿzimmot, “about every scheme”). The initial mem (מ) found in the MT may have been added accidentally due to dittography with the final mem (ם) on the immediately preceding word, and the MT qof (ק) may have arisen due to orthographic confusion with the similar looking zayin (ז). The emendation restores sense to the line in the MT, which makes little sense and features an abrupt change of referents: “Wherever you turn, they will be upon us!” The threat was not against the villagers living nearby but against those repairing the wall, as the following context indicates. See also the following note on the word “plotting.”
4 tc The MT reads תָּשׁוּבוּ (tashuvu, “you turn”) which is awkward contextually. The BHS editors propose emending to חָשְׁבוּ (hashÿvu, “they were plotting”) which harmonizes well with the context. This emendation involves mere orthographic confusion between similar looking ח (khet) and ת (tav), and the resultant dittography of middle vav (ו) in MT. See also the preceding note on the word “schemes.”
5 tn Heb “we did not purchase.”
6 tn Heb “who were gathered around us at my table.”
7 tn Or “from the Gentiles.” The same Hebrew word can refer to “the Gentiles” or “the nations.” Cf. the phrase in 6:16.
8 tn Heb “We are not according to these matters that you are saying.”
9 tn Heb “For from your heart you are inventing them.”
10 tn Heb “the seed of Israel.”
11 tn Heb “sons of a foreigner.”
12 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 16, 23, 32, 34, 36).
13 tn Heb “you have done truth.”
14 tn Heb “give a dwelling to.”
