Nehemiah 2:12

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.

Nehemiah 5:7

5:7 I considered these things carefully ²  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ³  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ⁴  from your own countrymen!” ⁵  Because of them I called for ⁶  a great public assembly.

Nehemiah 7:5

7:5 My God placed it on my heart to gather the leaders, ⁷  the officials, and the ordinary people so they could be enrolled on the basis of genealogy. I found the genealogical records ⁸  of those who had formerly returned. Here is what I found written in that record: ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “the animal.”

² tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

³ tn Heb “nobles.”

⁴ tn Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun מַשָּׁא (masha’) means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor (HALOT 641-42 s.v.). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to מַשָּׁאָה (masha’ah, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See the note on the word “people” at the end of v. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”

⁵ tn Heb “his brothers.”

⁶ tn Heb “I gave.”

³ tn Heb “nobles”; NCV “important men.”

⁴ tn Heb “the book of genealogy.”

⁵ tn Heb “in it”; the referent (the genealogical record) has been specified in the translation for clarity.