Nehemiah 2:9

2:9 Then I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, and I presented to them the letters from the king. The king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

Nehemiah 2:4

2:4 The king responded, ¹  “What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven

Nehemiah 2:14

2:14 I passed on to the Gate of the Well and the King’s Pool, where there was not enough room for my animal to pass with me.

Nehemiah 5:4

5:4 Then there were those who said, “We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king ²  on our fields and our vineyards.

Nehemiah 11:23-24

11:23 For they were under royal orders ³  which determined their activity day by day. ⁴ 

11:24 Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, one of the descendants of Zerah son of Judah, was an adviser to the king ⁵  in every matter pertaining to the people.

Nehemiah 2:6

2:6 Then the king, with his consort ⁶  sitting beside him, replied, “How long would your trip take, and when would you return?” Since the king was amenable to dispatching me, ⁷  I gave him a time.

Nehemiah 13:6

13:6 During all this time I was not in Jerusalem, ⁸  for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After some time ⁹  I had requested leave of the king,

Nehemiah 2:1-3

Nehemiah Is Permitted to Go to Jerusalem

2:1 Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought to me, ¹⁰  I took the wine and gave it to the king. Previously ¹¹  I had not been depressed ¹²  in the king’s presence. ¹³  2:2 So the king said to me, “Why do you appear to be depressed when you aren’t sick? What can this be other than sadness of heart?” This made me very fearful.

2:3 I replied to the king, “O king, live forever! Why would I not appear dejected when the city with the graves of my ancestors ¹⁴  lies desolate and its gates destroyed ¹⁵  by fire?”

Nehemiah 3:25

3:25 After him Palal son of Uzai worked ¹⁶  opposite the buttress and the tower that protrudes from the upper palace ¹⁷  of the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh

Nehemiah 2:5

2:5 and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined ¹⁸  and if your servant has found favor in your sight, dispatch me to Judah, to the city with the graves of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.”

Nehemiah 2:7-8

2:7 I said to the king, “If the king is so inclined, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates ¹⁹  that will enable me to travel safely until I reach Judah, 2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ²⁰  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ²¹  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ²²  for the good hand of my God was on me.

Nehemiah 2:18-19

2:18 Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what ²³  the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” ²⁴  So they readied themselves ²⁵  for this good project. 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard all this, ²⁶  they derided us and expressed contempt toward us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

Nehemiah 3:15

3:15 Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, worked on the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, put on its roof, and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars. In addition, he rebuilt the wall of the Pool of Siloam, ²⁷  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

Nehemiah 5:14

5:14 From the day that I was appointed ²⁸  governor ²⁹  in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes – twelve years in all – neither I nor my relatives ³⁰  ate the food allotted to the governor. ³¹ 

¹ tn Heb “said to me.”

¹ tn Heb “for the tax of the king.”

¹ tn Heb “the commandment of the king was over them.”

² tn Heb “a thing of a day in its day.”

¹ tn Heb “to the hand of the king.”

¹ tn Or “queen,” so most English versions (cf. HALOT 1415 s.v. שֵׁגַל); TEV “empress.”

² tn Heb “It was good before the king and he sent me.”

¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

² tn Heb “to the end of days.”

¹ tc The translation reads with the LXX וְיַיִן לְפָנַי (vÿyayin lÿfanay, “and wine before me”) rather than יַיִן לְפָנָיו (yayin lÿfanayv, “wine before him”) of the MT. The initial vav (ו) on original וְיַיִן probably dropped out due to haplograpy or orthographic confusion with the two yods (י) which follow. The final vav on לְפָנָיו in the MT was probably added due to dittography with the vav on the immediately following word.

² tc The translation reads לְפָנֵים (lÿfanim, “formerly”) rather than לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “to his face”) of the MT. The MT seems to suggest that Nehemiah was not sad before the king, which is contrary to what follows.

³ tn Or “showed him a sullen face.” See HALOT 1251 s.v. רַע, רָע 9.

⁴ tn This expression is either to be inferred from the context, or perhaps one should read לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “before him”; cf. the MT) in addition to לְפָנִים (lÿfanim, “formerly”). See preceding note on the word “previously.”

¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 5).

² tn Heb “devoured” or “eaten” (so also in Neh 2:13).

¹ tc The MT lacks the phrase אַחֲרָיו הֶחֱזִיק (’akharayv hekheziq, “after him worked”). This phrase is used repeatedly in Neh 3:16-31 to introduce each worker and his location. It probably dropped out accidentally through haplography.

² tn Heb “house of the king.”

¹ tn Heb “If upon the king it is good.” So also in v. 7.

¹ tn Heb “across the river,” here and often elsewhere in the Book of Nehemiah.

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.

¹ tn Heb “the words of the king which he had spoken to me.”

² tn Heb “Arise! Let us rebuild!”

³ tn Heb “strengthened their hands.”

¹ tn The Hebrew text does not include the words “all this,” but they have been added in the translation for clarity.

¹ tn The Hebrew word translated “Siloam” is הַשֶּׁלַח (hashelakh, “water-channel”; cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV, TEV, CEV “Shelah”). It apparently refers to the Pool of Siloam whose water supply came from the Gihon Spring via Hezekiah’s Tunnel built in 701 B.C. (cf. Isa 8:6). See BDB 1019 s.v. שִׁלֹחַ; W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 372. On the etymology of the word, which is a disputed matter, see HALOT 1517 s.v. III שֶׁלַח.

¹ tc The BHS editors suggest reading צֻוֵּאתִי (tsuvve’ti, “and I was appointed”) rather than the reading of the MT, אֹתִי צִוָּה (tsivvah ’oti, “he appointed me”).

² tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew MS פֶּחָה (pekhah, “governor”) rather than פֶּחָם (pekham, “their governor”) of the MT. One would expect the form with pronominal suffix to have a tav (ת) before the suffix.

³ tn Heb “brothers.”

⁴ tn Heb “the food of the governor.” Cf. v. 18.