Nehemiah 1:11

1:11 Please, ¹  O Lord, listen attentively ²  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ³  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ⁴  in the presence of this man.”

Now ⁵  I was cupbearer for the king.

Nehemiah 8:3

8:3 So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon ⁶  before the men and women and those children who could understand. ⁷  All the people were eager to hear ⁸  the book of the law.

Nehemiah 13:1

Further Reforms by Nehemiah

13:1 On that day the book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing ⁹  of the people. They found ¹⁰  written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite may ever enter the assembly of God,

Nehemiah 1:6

1:6 may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed ¹¹  against you – both I myself and my family ¹²  have sinned.

¹ tn The interjection אָנָּא (’anna’) is an emphatic term of entreaty: “please!” (BDB 58 s.v.; HALOT 69-70 s.v.). This term is normally reserved for pleas for mercy from God in life-and-death situations (2 Kgs 20:3 = Isa 38:3; Pss 116:4; 118:25; Jonah 1:14; 4:2) and for forgiveness of heinous sins that would result or have resulted in severe judgment from God (Exod 32:31; Dan 9:4; Neh 1:5, 11).

² tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”

³ tn Heb “fear.”

⁴ tn Heb “grant compassion.” The words “to me” are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style in English.

⁵ tn The vav (ו) on וַאֲנִי (va’ani, “Now, I”) introduces a disjunctive parenthetical clause that provides background information to the reader.

⁶ tn Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”

⁷ tn Heb “all who could hear with understanding.” The word “children” is understood to be implied here by a number of English versions (e.g., NAB, TEV, NLT).

⁸ tn Heb “the ears of all the people were toward.”

¹¹ tn Heb “ears.”

¹² tn Heb “it was found.” The Hebrew verb is passive.

¹⁶ tn Heb “have sinned.” For stylistic reasons – to avoid redundancy in English – this was translated as “committed.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “the house of my father.”