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 ¹  against you – both I myself and my family ²  have sinned.

Nehemiah 5:8

5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ³  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ⁴  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

Nehemiah 6:6

6:6 Written in it were the following words:

“Among the nations it is rumored ⁵  (and Geshem ⁶  has substantiated ⁷  this) that you and the Jews have intentions of revolting, and for this reason you are building the wall. Furthermore, according to these rumors ⁸  you are going to become their king.

Nehemiah 8:3-4

8:3 So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon ⁹  before the men and women and those children who could understand. ¹⁰  All the people were eager to hear ¹¹  the book of the law.

8:4 Ezra the scribe stood on a towering wooden platform ¹²  constructed for this purpose. Standing near him on his right were Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Masseiah. On his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

Nehemiah 8:15

8:15 and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message ¹³  in all their cities and in Jerusalem: ¹⁴  “Go to the hill country and bring back olive branches and branches of wild olive trees, myrtle trees, date palms, and other leafy trees to construct temporary shelters, as it is written.”

Nehemiah 9:17

9:17 They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. ¹⁵  But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. ¹⁶  You did not abandon them,

Nehemiah 9:29

9:29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹⁷  will live. They boldly turned from you; ¹⁸  they rebelled ¹⁹  and did not obey.

Nehemiah 9:32

9:32 “So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ²⁰  – do not regard as inconsequential ²¹  all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!

Nehemiah 10:34

10:34 “We – the priests, the Levites, and the people – have cast lots concerning the wood offerings, to bring them to the temple of our God according to our families ²²  at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law.

Nehemiah 10:39

10:39 The Israelites and the Levites will bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms where the utensils of the sanctuary are kept, and where the priests who minister stay, along with the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the temple of our God.”

¹ tn Heb “have sinned.” For stylistic reasons – to avoid redundancy in English – this was translated as “committed.”

² tn Heb “the house of my father.”

³ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

⁴ tn Heb “your brothers.”

⁵ tn Heb “heard.”

⁶ tn Heb “Gashmu”; in Neh 2:19 this name appears as Geshem. Since it is important for the modern reader to recognize that this is the same individual, the form of the name used here in the translation is the same as that in v. 19.

⁷ tn Heb “is saying.”

⁸ tn Heb “words.” So also in v. 7.

⁷ tn Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”

⁸ 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).

⁹ tn Heb “the ears of all the people were toward.”

⁹ tn Heb “a tower of wood.”

¹¹ tn Heb “a voice.”

¹² map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹³ tc The present translation follows a few medieval Hebrew MSS and the LXX in reading בְּמִצְרָיִם (bÿmitsrayim, “in Egypt”; so also NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT) rather than the MT reading בְּמִרְיָם (bÿmiryam, “in their rebellion”).

¹⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere reading חֶסֶד (khesed, “loyal love”) rather than the Kethib reading וְחֶסֶד (vÿkhesed, “and loyal love”) of the MT.

¹⁵ tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

¹⁶ tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys. The second noun retains its full nominal sense, while the first functions adjectivally: “the covenant and loyalty” = covenant fidelity.

¹⁸ tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “the house of our fathers.”