Discovery BoxNehemiah 6:9 
Context6:9 All of them were wanting 1 to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.”
So now, strengthen my hands! 2
Nehemiah 6:13
Context6:13 He had been hired to scare me so that I would do this and thereby sin. They would thus bring reproach on me and I 3 would be discredited. 4
1 tn The participle has a desiderative nuance here, describing the desire of the subject and not necessarily the actual outcome. See also v. 14.
2 tn The statement “So now, strengthen my hands” is frequently understood as an implied prayer, but is taken differently by NAB (“But instead, I now redoubled my efforts”).
3 tc The translation reads לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the MT reading לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”).
4 tn Heb “would have a bad name.”
