Nehemiah 4:2-4

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ¹  and the army of Samaria ²  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ³  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?”

4:3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was close by, said, “If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!”

4:4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised! Return their reproach on their own head! Reduce them to plunder in a land of exile!

Esther 3:6-8

3:6 But the thought of striking out against ⁴  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ⁵  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ⁶  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ⁷  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

3:7 In the first month (that is, the month of Nisan), in the twelfth year ⁸  of King Ahasuerus’ reign, pur ⁹  (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman in order to determine a day and a month. ¹⁰  It turned out to be the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar). ¹¹ 

3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a particular people ¹²  that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants ¹³  throughout all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of all other peoples. Furthermore, they do not observe the king’s laws. It is not appropriate for the king to provide a haven for them. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 44:13-14

44:13 You made us ¹⁵  an object of disdain to our neighbors;

those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. ¹⁶ 

44:14 You made us ¹⁷  an object of ridicule ¹⁸  among the nations;

foreigners treat us with contempt. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 71:11

71:11 They say, ²⁰  “God has abandoned him.

Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him!”

Psalms 83:4

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! ²¹ 

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

Psalms 123:3-4

123:3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!

For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some. ²² 

123:4 We have had our fill ²³ 

of the taunts of the self-assured,

of the contempt of the proud.

Lamentations 2:15-16

ס (Samek)

2:15 All who passed by on the road

clapped their hands to mock you. ²⁴ 

They sneered and shook their heads

at Daughter Jerusalem.

“Ha! Is this the city they called ²⁵ 

‘The perfection of beauty, ²⁶ 

the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” ²⁷ 

פ (Pe)

2:16 All your enemies

gloated over you. ²⁸ 

They sneered and gnashed their teeth;

they said, “We have destroyed ²⁹  her!

Ha! We have waited a long time for this day.

We have lived to see it!” ³⁰ 

Lamentations 4:15

ס (Samek)

4:15 People cry to them, “Turn away! You are unclean!

Turn away! Turn away! Don’t touch us!”

So they have fled and wander about;

but the nations say, ³¹  “They may not stay here any longer.”

Ezekiel 25:3

25:3 Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: You said “Aha!” about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile.

Ezekiel 26:2

26:2 “Son of man, because Tyre ³²  has said about Jerusalem, ³³  ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I will become rich, ³⁴  now that she ³⁵  has been destroyed,’

Ezekiel 35:10-15

35:10 “‘You said, “These two nations, these two lands ³⁶  will be mine, and we will possess them,” ³⁷  – although the Lord was there – 35:11 therefore, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will deal with you according to your anger, and according to your envy, by which you acted spitefully against them. I will reveal myself to them when I judge you. 35:12 Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are desolate, they have been given to us for food.” 35:13 You exalted yourselves against me with your speech ³⁸  and hurled many insults against me ³⁹  – I have heard them all! 35:14 This is what the sovereign Lord says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will turn you into a desolation. 35:15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I deal with you – you will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all of Edom – all of it! Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

Ezekiel 36:2

36:2 This is what the sovereign Lord says: The enemy has spoken against you, saying “Aha!” and, “The ancient heights ⁴⁰  have become our property!”’

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ³ 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?”

[3:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

[3:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

[3:6]  ⁶ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

[3:6]  ⁷ tc This parenthetical phrase is not included in the LXX. Some scholars emend the MT reading עַם (’am, “people”) to עִם (’im, “with”), arguing that the phrase is awkwardly placed and syntactically inappropriate. While there is some truth to their complaint, the MT makes sufficient sense to be acceptable here, and is followed by most English versions.

[3:7]  ⁸ sn This year would be ca. 474 b.c. The reference to first month and twelfth month indicate that about a year had elapsed between this determination and the anticipated execution.

[3:7]  ⁹ tn The term פּוּר (pur, “lot”) is an Akkadian loanword; the narrator therefore explains it for his Hebrew readers (“that is, the lot”). It is from the plural form of this word (i.e., Purim) that the festival celebrating the deliverance of the Jews takes its name (cf. 9:24, 26, 28, 31).

[3:7]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX adds the following words: “in order to destroy in one day the race of Mordecai, and the lot fell on the fourteenth day of the month.” The LXX reading is included by NAB.

[3:7]  ¹¹ tn Since v. 7 seems to interrupt the flow of the narrative, many scholars have suggested that it is a late addition to the text. But there is not enough evidence to warrant such a conclusion. Even though its placement is somewhat awkward, the verse supplies to the reader an important piece of chronological information.

[3:8]  ¹² tn Heb “one people.” Note the subtle absence at this point of a specific mention of the Jewish people by name.

[3:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “peoples” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “nations”

[3:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to cause them to rest”; NASB “to let them remain”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “to tolerate them.”

[44:13]  ¹⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.”

[44:14]  ¹⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”

[44:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).

[71:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “saying.”

[83:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”

[123:3]  ²² tn Heb “for greatly we are filled [with] humiliation.”

[123:4]  ²³ tn Heb “greatly our soul is full to it.”

[2:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “clap their hands at you.” Clapping hands at someone was an expression of malicious glee, derision and mockery (Num 24:10; Job 27:23; Lam 2:15).

[2:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “of which they said.”

[2:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “perfection of beauty.” The noun יֹפִי (yofi, “beauty”) functions as a genitive of respect in relation to the preceding construct noun: Jerusalem was perfect in respect to its physical beauty.

[2:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the joy of all the earth.” This is similar to statements found in Pss 48:2 and 50:2.

[2:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they have opened wide their mouth against you.”

[2:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “We have swallowed!”

[2:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “We have attained, we have seen!” The verbs מָצָאנוּ רָאִינוּ (matsa’nu ra’inu) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its full verbal sense and the second functions as an object complement. It forms a Hebrew idiom that means something like, “We have lived to see it!” The three asyndetic 1st person common plural statements in 2:16 (“We waited, we destroyed, we saw!”) are spoken in an impassioned, staccato style reflecting the delight of the conquerors.

[4:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “They say among the nations.”

[26:2]  ³² sn Tyre was located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.

[26:2]  ³³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[26:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I will be filled.”

[26:2]  ³⁵ sn That is, Jerusalem.

[35:10]  ³⁶ sn The reference is to Israel and Judah.

[35:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “it.”

[35:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “your mouth.”

[35:13]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and you multiplied against me your words.” The Hebrew verb occurs only here and in Prov 27:6, where it refers to the “excessive” kisses of an enemy. The basic idea of the verb appears to be “to be abundant.” Here it occurs in the causative (Hiphil) stem.

[36:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “high places.”