Nehemiah 5:1

Nehemiah Intervenes on behalf of the Oppressed

5:1 Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. ¹ 

Nehemiah 13:23

13:23 Also in those days I saw the men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

Nehemiah 1:2

1:2 Hanani, who was one of my relatives, ²  along with some of the men from Judah, came to me, ³  and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem. ⁴ 

Nehemiah 4:1

Opposition to the Work Continues

4:1 (3:33) ⁵  Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became angry and was quite upset. He derided the Jews,

Nehemiah 4:12

4:12 So it happened that the Jews who were living near them came and warned us repeatedly ⁶  about all the schemes ⁷  they were plotting ⁸  against us.

Nehemiah 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ⁹  and the army of Samaria ¹⁰  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ¹¹  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

Nehemiah 5:8

5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ¹²  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ¹³  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

¹ tn Heb “their brothers the Jews.”

² tn Heb “brothers.”

³ tn The Hebrew text does not include the words “to me”; these words were supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

³ sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:23 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:33 HT, 4:2 ET = 3:34 HT, 4:3 ET = 3:35 HT, 4:4 ET = 3:36 HT, 4:5 ET = 3:37 HT, 4:6 ET = 3:38 HT, 4:7 ET = 4:1 HT, etc., through 4:23 ET = 4:17 HT. Thus in the Hebrew Bible chap. 3 of the Book of Nehemiah has 38 verses, while chap. 4 has only 17 verses.

⁴ tn Heb “ten times.”

⁵ tc The MT reads the anomalous מִכָּל־הַמְּקֹמוֹת (mikkol hammÿqomot, “from every place”) but the BHS editors propose כָּל־הַמְּזִמּוֹת (kol hammÿzimmot, “about every scheme”). The initial mem (מ) found in the MT may have been added accidentally due to dittography with the final mem (ם) on the immediately preceding word, and the MT qof (ק) may have arisen due to orthographic confusion with the similar looking zayin (ז). The emendation restores sense to the line in the MT, which makes little sense and features an abrupt change of referents: “Wherever you turn, they will be upon us!” The threat was not against the villagers living nearby but against those repairing the wall, as the following context indicates. See also the following note on the word “plotting.”

⁶ tc The MT reads תָּשׁוּבוּ (tashuvu, “you turn”) which is awkward contextually. The BHS editors propose emending to חָשְׁבוּ (hashÿvu, “they were plotting”) which harmonizes well with the context. This emendation involves mere orthographic confusion between similar looking ח (khet) and ת (tav), and the resultant dittography of middle vav (ו) in MT. See also the preceding note on the word “schemes.”

⁵ tn Heb “brothers.”

⁶ map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

⁷ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The present translation follows the MT, but the text may be corrupt. H. G. M. Williamson (Ezra, Nehemiah [WBC], 213-14) translates these words as “Will they commit their cause to God?” suggesting that MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”) should be emended to לֵאלֹהִים (lelohim, “to God”), a proposal also found in the apparatus of BHS. In his view later scribes altered the phrase out of theological motivations. J. Blenkinsopp’s translation is similar: “Are they going to leave it all to God?” (Ezra–Nehemiah [OTL], 242-44). However, a problem for this view is the absence of external evidence to support the proposed emendation. The sense of the MT reading may be the notion that the workers – if left to their own limited resources – could not possibly see such a demanding and expensive project through to completion. This interpretation understands the collocation עָזַב (’azav, “to leave”) plus לְ (lÿ, “to”) to mean “commit a matter to someone,” with the sense in this verse “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?”

⁶ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

⁷ tn Heb “your brothers.”