Nehemiah 2:8

2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ¹  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ²  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ³  for the good hand of my God was on me.

Nehemiah 2:18

2:18 Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what ⁴  the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” ⁵  So they readied themselves ⁶  for this good project.

¹ tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.

² tc One medieval Hebrew MS, the Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate, and the Arabic read here the plural וּלְחוֹמוֹת (ulÿkhomot, “walls”) against the singular וּלְחוֹמַת (ulÿkhomat) in the MT. The plural holem vav (וֹ) might have dropped out due to dittography or the plural form might have been written defectively.

³ tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.

⁴ tn Heb “the words of the king which he had spoken to me.”

⁵ tn Heb “Arise! Let us rebuild!”

⁶ tn Heb “strengthened their hands.”