5:9 Then I 1 said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong! 2 Should you not conduct yourselves 3 in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies?
5:1 Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. 4
5:14 From the day that I was appointed 5 governor 6 in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes – twelve years in all – neither I nor my relatives 7 ate the food allotted to the governor. 8
5:1 Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. 9
1 tc The translation reads with the Qere and the ancient versions וָאוֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the MT Kethib, וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).
2 tn Heb “not good.” The statement “The thing…is not good” is an example of tapeinosis, a figurative expression which emphasizes the intended point (“The thing…is wrong!”) by negating its opposite.
3 tn Heb “[should you not] walk.”
4 tn Heb “their brothers the Jews.”
5 tc The BHS editors suggest reading צֻוֵּאתִי (tsuvve’ti, “and I was appointed”) rather than the reading of the MT, אֹתִי צִוָּה (tsivvah ’oti, “he appointed me”).
6 tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew
7 tn Heb “brothers.”
8 tn Heb “the food of the governor.” Cf. v. 18.
9 tn Heb “their brothers the Jews.”
10 tn Heb “the animal.”