Nehemiah 3:1

The Names of the Builders

3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest and his priestly colleagues ¹  arose and built the Sheep Gate. They dedicated ²  it and erected its doors, working as far as the Tower of the Hundred ³  and ⁴  the Tower of Hananel.

Nehemiah 3:15-16

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, ⁵  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David. 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 5:8

5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ⁶  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ⁷  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

Nehemiah 10:33

10:33 for the loaves of presentation and for the regular grain offerings and regular burnt offerings, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the appointed meetings, for the holy offerings, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the temple of our God.

Nehemiah 13:21

13:21 But I warned them and said, ⁸  “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!” ⁹  From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “his brothers the priests.”

² tn Or “consecrated” (so NASB, NRSV); KJV, ASV “sanctified”; NCV “gave it to the Lord’s service.”

³ tc The MT adds קִדְּשׁוּהוּ (qidshuhu, “they sanctified it”). This term is repeated from the first part of the verse, probably as an intentional scribal addition to harmonize this statement with the preceding parallel statement.

⁴ tc The translation reads וְעַד (vÿ’ad, “and unto”) rather than the MT reading עַד (ad, “unto”). The original vav (ו) was probably dropped accidentally due to haplography with the final vav on the immediately preceding word in the MT.

⁵ 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.

⁹ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “your brothers.”

¹³ tn The Hebrew text includes the words “to them,” but they have been excluded from the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁴ tn Heb “I will send a hand on you.”

¹⁵ sn This statement contains a great deal of restrained humor. The author clearly takes pleasure in the effectiveness of the measures that he had enacted.