Nehemiah 2:12-13

2:12 I got up during the night, along with a few men who were with me. But I did not tell anyone what my God was putting on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me, except for the one ¹  I was riding. 2:13 I proceeded through the Valley Gate by night, in the direction of the Well of the Dragons ²  and the Dung Gate, ³  inspecting ⁴  the walls of Jerusalem that had been breached and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

Nehemiah 2:20

2:20 I responded to them by saying, “The God of heaven will prosper us. We his servants will start the rebuilding. ⁵  But you have no just or ancient right in Jerusalem.” ⁶ 

Nehemiah 3:8

3:8 Uzziel son of Harhaiah, a member of the goldsmiths’ guild, worked on the section adjacent to him. Hananiah, a member of the perfumers’ guild, worked on the section adjacent to him. They plastered ⁷  the city wall of Jerusalem ⁸  as far as the Broad Wall.

Nehemiah 4:7

4:7 (4:1) ⁹  When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem ¹⁰  had moved ahead and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they were very angry.

Nehemiah 8:15

8:15 and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message ¹¹  in all their cities and in Jerusalem: ¹²  “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 11:3-4

11:3 These are the provincial leaders ¹³  who settled in Jerusalem. (While other Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple attendants, and the sons of the servants of Solomon settled in the cities of Judah, each on his own property in their cities, 11:4 some of the descendants of Judah and some of the descendants of Benjamin settled in Jerusalem.)

Of the descendants of Judah:

Athaiah son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, from the descendants of Perez;

Nehemiah 11:22

11:22 The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. He was one of Asaph’s descendants who were the singers responsible for the service of the temple of God.

Nehemiah 12:43

12:43 And on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard from far away.

Nehemiah 13:6

13:6 During all this time I was not in Jerusalem, ¹⁴  for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After some time ¹⁵  I had requested leave of the king,

Nehemiah 13:15

13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them on the day that they sold these provisions.

Nehemiah 13:19

13:19 When the evening shadows ¹⁶  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ¹⁷  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ¹⁸  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

¹ tn Heb “the animal.”

² tn Or “Well of the Serpents”; or “Well of the Jackals” (cf. ASV, NIV, NLT).

³ tn Or “Rubbish Gate” (so TEV); NASB “Refuse Gate”; NCV “Trash Gate”; CEV “Garbage Gate.”

⁴ tc For the MT reading שֹׂבֵר (sover, “inspecting”) the LXX erroneously has שֹׁבֵר (shover, “breaking”). However, further destruction of Jerusalem’s walls was obviously not a part of Nehemiah’s purpose.

³ tn Heb “will arise and build.” The idiom “arise and…” means to begin the action described by the second verb.

⁴ tn Heb “portion or right or remembrance.” The expression is probably a hendiatris: The first two nouns retain their full nominal function, while the third noun functions adjectivally (“right or remembrance” = “ancient right”).

⁴ tc Assuming that the MT reading וַיַּעַזְבוּ (vayya’azvu) is related to the root עָזַב I (“to abandon”) – which makes little sense contextually – some interpreters emend the MT to וַיַּעַזְרוּ (vayya’azru, “they aided”), as suggested by the editors of BHS. However, it is better to relate this term to the root II עָזַב meaning “to restore; to repair” (BDB 738 s.v. II עָזַב) or “to plaster” (HALOT 807 s.v. II עזב qal.1). This homonymic root is rare, appearing elsewhere only in Exod 23:5 and Job 9:27, where it means “to restore; to put in order” (HALOT 807-8 s.v. II עזב qal.2). The related Mishnaic Hebrew noun מעזיבה refers to a “plastered floor.” This Hebrew root is probably related to the cognate Ugaritic, Old South Arabic and Sabean verbs that mean “to restore” and “to prepare; to lay” (see BDB 738 s.v.; HALOT 807 s.v.). Some scholars in the nineteenth century suggested that this term be nuanced “paved.” However, most modern English versions have “restored” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “rebuilt” (so NCV, CEV).

⁵ tn Heb “[the city wall of] Jerusalem.” The term “Jerusalem” probably functions as a metonymy of association for the city wall of Jerusalem. Accordingly, the phrase “the city wall of” has been supplied in the translation to clarify this figurative expression.

⁵ sn Chapter 4 begins here in the Hebrew text (BHS). See the note at 4:1.

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

⁶ tn Heb “a voice.”

⁷ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁷ tn Heb “the heads of the province.”

⁸ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁹ tn Heb “to the end of days.”

⁹ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

¹¹ tn Heb “caused to stand.”