Nehemiah 4:12

So it happened that the Jews who were living near them came and warned us repeatedly ¹  about all the schemes ²  they were plotting ³  against us.

Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us."

When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, "They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,"

The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, "They will come from all directions and attack us!"

The Jews who were their neighbors kept reporting, "They have us surrounded; they're going to attack!" If we heard it once, we heard it ten times.

And it came about that when the Jews who were living near them came, they said to us ten times, From all directions they are coming against us.

When the Jews who lived near them came, they said to us ten times, "From all the places where they live they will come up against us."

So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, "From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us."

So it happened that the Jews who were living near them came and warned us repeatedly ¹  about all the schemes ²  they were plotting ³  against us.

¹ tn Heb “ten times.”

² 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.”

³ 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.”