Text -- Nehemiah 4:19-23 (NET)

4:19 I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is demanding and extensive, and we are spread out on the wall, far removed from one another. 4:20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather there with us. Our God will fight for us!” 4:21 So we worked on, with half holding spears, from dawn till dusk. 4:22 At that time I instructed the people, “Let every man and his coworker spend the night in Jerusalem and let them be guards for us by night and workers by day. 4:23 We did not change clothes– not I, nor my relatives, nor my workers, nor the watchmen who were with me. Each had his weapon, even when getting a drink of water.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Neh 4:19

¹ tn Heb “much.”

NET Notes: Neh 4:21

¹ tn Heb “and we were doing the work.”

² tn Heb “half of them.”

³ tn Heb “from the coming up of the dawn till the coming forth of the stars.”

NET Notes: Neh 4:22

¹ tn Heb “said [to].”

NET Notes: Neh 4:23

¹ tn Heb “strip off our garments.”

² tc Heb “a man, his weapon, the waters.” The MT, if in fact it is correct, is elliptical and difficult. Some scholars emend the MT reading הַמָּיִם (hammayim, “the waters”) to בִּמִנוֹ (bimino, “in his right hand”; cf. NAB, NRSV) or מִינוּ(י)הֵ (heminu, “they held on the right side”).