Nehemiah 1:5

1:5 Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ¹  with those who love him and obey ²  his commandments,

Nehemiah 2:2

2:2 So the king said to me, “Why do you appear to be depressed when you aren’t sick? What can this be other than sadness of heart?” This made me very fearful.

Nehemiah 6:9

6:9 All of them were wanting ³  to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.”

So now, strengthen my hands! ⁴ 

Nehemiah 6:13-14

6:13 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 ⁵  would be discredited. ⁶ 

6:14 Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat in light of these actions of theirs – also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who were trying to scare me!

Nehemiah 6:19

6:19 They were telling me about his good deeds and then taking back to him the things I said. ⁷  Tobiah, on the other hand, sent letters in order to scare ⁸  me.

Nehemiah 7:2

7:2 I then put in charge over Jerusalem ⁹  my brother Hanani and Hananiah ¹⁰  the chief of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many do.

¹ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The phrase is a hendiadys: the first noun retains its full nominal sense, while the second noun functions adjectivally (“loyal love” = loving). Alternately, the first might function adjectivally and the second noun function as the noun: “covenant and loyal love” = covenant fidelity (see Neh 9:32).

² tn Heb “keep.” The Hebrew verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to observe; to keep”) is often used as an idiom that means “to obey” the commandments of God (e.g., Exod 20:6; Deut 5:16; 23:24; 29:8; Judg 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:43; 11:11; Ps 119:8, 17, 34; Jer 35:18; Ezek 17:14; Amos 2:4). See BDB 1036 s.v. 3.c.

³ tn The participle has a desiderative nuance here, describing the desire of the subject and not necessarily the actual outcome. See also v. 14.

⁴ 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”).

⁵ tc The translation reads לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the MT reading לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”).

⁶ tn Heb “would have a bad name.”

⁷ tn Heb “my words.”

⁸ tn Or “to intimidate” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁰ tn Some have suggested that “Hananiah” is another name for Hanani, Nehemiah’s brother, so that only one individual is mentioned here. However, the third person plural in v. 3 indicates two people are in view.