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Nehemiah 4:2

Context
4:2 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 5:8

Context
5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews 4  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, 5  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

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 “our brothers, the Jews.”

5 tn Heb “your brothers.”



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