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 2:3

2:3 I replied to the king, “O king, live forever! Why would I not appear dejected when the city with the graves of my ancestors ³  lies desolate and its gates destroyed ⁴  by fire?”

Nehemiah 7:61

7:61 These are the ones who came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer (although they were unable to certify ⁵  their family connection ⁶  or their ancestry, ⁷  as to whether they were really from Israel):

Nehemiah 2:5

2:5 and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined ⁸  and if your servant has found favor in your sight, dispatch me to Judah, to the city with the graves of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.”

Nehemiah 4:14

4:14 When I had made an inspection, ⁹  I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, ¹⁰  and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families!” ¹¹ 

Nehemiah 4:19

4:19 I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is demanding ¹²  and extensive, and we are spread out on the wall, far removed from one another.

Nehemiah 7:3

7:3 I ¹³  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ¹⁴  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ¹⁵  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

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 Heb “fathers” (also in v. 5).

⁴ tn Heb “devoured” or “eaten” (so also in Neh 2:13).

⁵ tn Heb “relate.”

⁶ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”

⁷ tn Heb “their seed.”

⁷ tn Heb “If upon the king it is good.” So also in v. 7.

⁹ tn Heb “And I saw.”

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

¹¹ tn Heb “houses.”

¹¹ tn Heb “much.”

¹³ tc The present translation (along with most English versions) reads with the Qere, a Qumran text, and the ancient versions וָאֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, which reads וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).

¹⁴ tn Heb “until the heat of the sun.” The phrase probably means that the gates were to be opened only after the day had progressed a bit, not at the first sign of morning light (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV). It is possible, however, that the Hebrew preposition עַד (’ad), here translated as “until,” has a more rare sense of “during.” If so, this would mean that the gates were not to be left open and unattended during the hot part of the day when people typically would be at rest (cf. NLT).

¹⁵ tn Presumably this would mean the gates were not to be opened until later in the morning and were to remain open until evening. Some, however, have understood Nehemiah’s instructions to mean that the gates were not to be left open during the hottest part of the day, but must be shut and locked while the guards are still on duty. See J. Barr, “Hebrew עַד, especially at Job i.18 and Neh vii.3,” JJS 27 (1982): 177-88.