Nehemiah 6:4-5

6:4 They contacted¹ me four times in this way, and I responded the same way each time.²

6:5 The fifth time that Sanballat sent his assistant to me in this way, he had an open letter in his hand.

Nehemiah 6:12

6:12 I recognized the fact that God had not sent him, for he had spoken the prophecy against me as a hired agent of Tobiah and Sanballat.³

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 6:2-3

6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, “Come on! Let’s set up a time to meet together at Kephirim⁴ in the plain of Ono.” Now they intended to do me harm.

6:3 So I sent messengers to them saying, “I am engaged in⁵ an important work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you?”

Nehemiah 6:8

6:8 I sent word back to him, “We are not engaged in these activities you are describing.⁶ All of this is a figment of your imagination.”⁷

Nehemiah 6:19

6:19 They were telling me about his good deeds and then taking back to him the things I said.⁸ Tobiah, on the other hand, sent letters in order to scare⁹ me.

Nehemiah 8:12

8:12 So all the people departed to eat and drink and to share their food¹⁰ with others¹¹ and to enjoy tremendous joy,¹² for they had gained insight in the matters that had been made known to them.

Nehemiah 2:5-6

2:5 and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined¹³ 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.” 2:6 Then the king, with his consort¹⁴ sitting beside him, replied, “How long would your trip take, and when would you return?” Since the king was amenable to dispatching me,¹⁵ I gave him a time.

Nehemiah 8:10

8:10 He said to them, “Go and eat delicacies and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord.¹⁶ Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah 13:21

13:21 But I warned them and said,¹⁷ “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!”¹⁸ From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath.¹⁹

¹tn Heb “sent to.”

²tn Heb “and I answered them according to this word.”

³tn Heb “and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.”

⁵tn It is not entirely clear whether the Hebrew word כְּפִירִים (kÿfirim) is a place-name not mentioned elsewhere in the OT (as indicated in the present translation; so also NAB, NASB) or whether it means “in [one of] the villages” (so, e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT; see BDB 499 s.v.; HALOT 493 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it in the latter sense. Some scholars connect this term with the identically spelled word כּפירים (“lions”) as a figurative description of princes or warriors (e.g., Pss 34:11; 35:17; 58:7; Jer 2:15; Ezek 32:2, 13; Nah 2:14; see HALOT 493 s.v.): “let us meet together with the leaders in the plain of Ono.”

⁷tn Heb “[am] doing.”

⁹tn Heb “We are not according to these matters that you are saying.”

¹⁰tn Heb “For from your heart you are inventing them.”

¹¹tn Heb “my words.”

¹²tn Or “to intimidate” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

¹³tn Heb “to send portions.”

¹⁴tn The Hebrew text does not include the phrase “with others” but it has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵tn Heb “to make great joy.”

¹⁵tn Heb “If upon the king it is good.” So also in v. 7.

¹⁷tn Or “queen,” so most English versions (cf. HALOT 1415 s.v. שֵׁגַל); TEV “empress.”

¹⁸tn Heb “It was good before the king and he sent me.”

¹⁹tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

²¹tn The Hebrew text includes the words “to them,” but they have been excluded from the translation for stylistic reasons.

²²tn Heb “I will send a hand on you.”

²³sn This statement contains a great deal of restrained humor. The author clearly takes pleasure in the effectiveness of the measures that he had enacted.