Nehemiah 12:32

12:32 Going after them were Hoshaiah, half the leaders of Judah,

Nehemiah 4:16

4:16 From that day forward, half of my men were doing the work and half of them were taking up spears, ¹  shields, bows, and body armor. Now the officers were behind all the people ²  of Judah

Nehemiah 3:9

3:9 Rephaiah son of Hur, head of a half-district of Jerusalem, worked on the section adjacent to them.

Nehemiah 3:12

3:12 Shallum son of Hallohesh, head of a half-district of Jerusalem, worked on the section adjacent to him, assisted by his daughters. ³ 

Nehemiah 3:18

3:18 After him their relatives ⁴  worked – Binnui ⁵  son of Henadad, head of a half-district of Keilah.

Nehemiah 4:21

4:21 So we worked on, ⁶  with half ⁷  holding spears, from dawn till dusk. ⁸ 

Nehemiah 12:40

12:40 Then the two choirs that gave thanks took their stations ⁹  in the temple of God. I did also, along with half the officials with me,

Nehemiah 3:17

3:17 After him the Levites worked – Rehum son of Bani and ¹⁰  after him Hashabiah, head of half the district of Keilah, for his district.

Nehemiah 4:6

4:6 So we rebuilt the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height. ¹¹  The people were enthusiastic in their work. ¹² 

Nehemiah 13:24

13:24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod (or the language of one of the other peoples mentioned ¹³ ) and were unable to speak the language of Judah.

Nehemiah 3:16

3:16 Nehemiah son of Azbuk, head of a half-district of Beth Zur, worked after him as far as the tombs of David and the artificial pool and the House of the Warriors.

Nehemiah 12:38

12:38 The second choir was proceeding ¹⁴  in the opposite direction. I followed them, along with half the people, on top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall,

¹ tc The MT reads “and spears.” The conjunction should be deleted.

² tn Heb “all the house.”

¹ tc The reference to daughters, while not impossible, is odd in light of the cultural improbability that young women would participate in the strenuous labor of rebuilding city walls. All other such references in the Book of Nehemiah presuppose male laborers. Not surprisingly, some scholars suspect a textual problem. One medieval Hebrew MS and the Syriac Peshitta read וּבָנָיו (uvanayv, “and his sons”) rather than the MT reading וּבְנוֹתָיו (uvÿnotayv, “and his daughters”). Some scholars emend the MT to וּבֹנָיו (uvonayv, “and his builders”). On the other hand, the MT is clearly the more difficult reading, and so it is preferred.

¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

² tc The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew MSS and the Syriac Peshitta בִּנֻּי (binnuy) rather than the MT reading בַּוַּי (bavvay).

¹ tn Heb “and we were doing the work.”

² tn Heb “half of them.”

³ tn Heb “from the coming up of the dawn till the coming forth of the stars.”

¹ tn Heb “stood.”

¹ tc The translation reads וְעַל (vÿ’al, “and unto”) with several medieval Hebrew MSS and some MSS of LXX, rather than the MT reading עַל (’al, “unto”).

¹ tn Heb “up to its half.”

² tn Heb “the people had a heart to work.”

¹ tn Heb “people and people.”

¹ tc The translation reads הוֹלֶכֶת (holekhet, “was proceeding”) rather than the MT הַהוֹלֶכֶת (haholekhet, “the one proceeding”). The MT probably reflects dittography – accidental writing of ה (hey) twice instead of once.