Nehemiah 9:37

9:37 Its abundant produce goes to the kings you have placed over us due to our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they see fit, ¹  and we are in great distress!

Deuteronomy 28:47-48

The Curse of Military Siege

28:47 “Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, 28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty ²  you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They ³  will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you.

Joshua 16:10

16:10 The Ephraimites ⁴  did not conquer the Canaanites living in Gezer. The Canaanites live among the Ephraimites to this very day and do hard labor as their servants.

Joshua 16:1

Joseph’s Tribal Lands

16:1 The land allotted to Joseph’s descendants extended from the Jordan at Jericho ⁵  to the waters of Jericho to the east, through the desert and on up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel. ⁶ 

Joshua 9:21

9:21 The leaders then added, ⁷  “Let them live.” So they became ⁸  woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had decided. ⁹ 

Ezra 4:13

4:13 Let the king also be aware that if this city is built and its walls are completed, no more tax, custom, or toll will be paid, and the royal treasury ¹⁰  will suffer loss.

Ezra 4:20

4:20 Powerful kings have been over Jerusalem who ruled throughout the entire Trans-Euphrates ¹¹  and who were the beneficiaries of ¹²  tribute, custom, and toll.

¹ tn Heb “according to their desire.”

² tn Heb “lack of everything.”

³ tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).

⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Ephraimites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

⁶ tn Heb “The lot went out to the sons of Joseph from the Jordan [at] Jericho to the waters of Jericho to the east, the desert going up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel.”

⁷ tc Heb “and the leaders said to them.” The LXX omits the words “and the leaders said to them.”

⁸ tn The vav (ו) consecutive construction in the Hebrew text suggests that the narrative resumes at this point. The LXX reads here, “and they will be,” understanding what follows to be a continuation of the leaders’ words rather than a comment by the narrator.

⁹ tn Heb “as the leaders said to them.”

¹⁰ tn Aram “the treasury of kings.” The plural “kings” is Hebrew, not Aramaic. If the plural is intended in a numerical sense the reference is not just to Artaxerxes but to his successors as well. Some scholars understand this to be the plural of majesty, referring to Artaxerxes. See F. C. Fensham, Ezra and Nehemiah (NICOT), 74.

¹¹ sn The statement that prior Jewish kings ruled over the entire Trans-Euphrates is an overstatement. Not even in the days of David and Solomon did the kingdom of Israel extend its borders to such an extent.

¹² tn Aram “were being given to them.”