Discovery BoxNehemiah 4:2 
Context4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues 1 and the army of Samaria 2 he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? 3 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 10:29
Context10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders 4 and enter into a curse and an oath 5 to adhere to 6 the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey 7 carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, 8 along with his ordinances and his statutes.
Nehemiah 13:13
Context13:13 I gave instructions 9 that Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a certain Levite named Pedaiah be put in charge of 10 the storerooms, and that Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, be their assistant, 11 for they were regarded as trustworthy. It was then their responsibility to oversee the distribution to their colleagues. 12
1 tn Heb “brothers.”
2 map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.
3 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?”
4 tn Heb “the nobles.”
5 tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”
6 tn Heb “to walk in.”
7 tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.
8 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
9 tc Probably one should read with the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate וָאֲצַוֶּה (va’atsavveh, “and I commanded”) rather than the rare denominative verb וָאוֹצְרָה (va’otsÿrah, “and I appointed over the storeroom”) of the MT.
10 tn Heb “be over”
11 tn Heb “on their hand.”
12 tn Heb “brothers.”
