Nehemiah 12:24

12:24 And the leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their colleagues, who stood opposite them to offer praise and thanks, one contingent corresponding to the other, as specified by ¹  David the man of God.

Nehemiah 12:1

The Priests and the Levites Who Returned to Jerusalem

12:1 These are the priests and Levites who returned ²  with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

Nehemiah 1:5

1:5 Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ³  with those who love him and obey ⁴  his commandments,

Nehemiah 1:2

1:2 Hanani, who was one of my relatives, ⁵  along with some of the men from Judah, came to me, ⁶  and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem. ⁷ 

Nehemiah 8:14

8:14 They discovered written in the law that the LORD had commanded through ⁸  Moses that the Israelites should live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month,

Amos 6:5

6:5 They sing ⁹  to the tune of ¹⁰  stringed instruments; ¹¹ 

like David they invent ¹²  musical instruments.

¹ tn Heb “in [accord with] the commandment of.”

² tn Heb “who went up.”

³ 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).

⁴ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “brothers.”

⁵ tn The Hebrew text does not include the words “to me”; these words were supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

⁶ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁵ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb פָּרַט (parat), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. Some translate “strum,” “pluck,” or “improvise.”

⁷ tn Heb “upon the mouth of,” that is, “according to.”

⁸ sn The stringed instruments mentioned here are probably harps (cf. NIV, NRSV) or lutes (cf. NEB).

⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew phrase חָשְׁבוּ לָהֶם (khoshvu lahem) is uncertain. Various options include: (1) “they think their musical instruments are like David’s”; (2) “they consider themselves musicians like David”; (3) “they esteem musical instruments highly like David”; (4) “they improvise [new songs] for themselves [on] instruments like David”; (5) “they invent musical instruments like David.” However, the most commonly accepted interpretation is that given in the translation (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 206-7).