Nehemiah 1:11

1:11 Please, ¹  O Lord, listen attentively ²  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ³  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ⁴  in the presence of this man.”

Now ⁵  I was cupbearer for the king.

Nehemiah 2:5-6

2:5 and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined ⁶  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 consort ⁷  sitting beside him, replied, “How long would your trip take, and when would you return?” Since the king was amenable to dispatching me, ⁸  I gave him a time.

Nehemiah 2:13

2:13 I proceeded through the Valley Gate by night, in the direction of the Well of the Dragons ⁹  and the Dung Gate, ¹⁰  inspecting ¹¹  the walls of Jerusalem that had been breached and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

Nehemiah 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ¹²  and the army of Samaria ¹³  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ¹⁴  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 4:14

4:14 When I had made an inspection, ¹⁵  I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, ¹⁶  and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families!” ¹⁷ 

Nehemiah 8:1

8:1 all the people gathered together ¹⁸  in the plaza which was in front of the Water Gate. They asked ¹⁹  Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had commanded Israel.

Nehemiah 9:8

9:8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a ²⁰  covenant with him to give his descendants ²¹  the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, ²²  for you are righteous.

Nehemiah 9:24

9:24 Their descendants ²³  entered and possessed the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites who were the inhabitants of the land. You delivered them into their hand, together with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with as they pleased.

Nehemiah 9:28

9:28 “Then, when they were at rest again, they went back to doing evil before you. Then you abandoned them to ²⁴  their enemies, and they gained dominion over them. When they again cried out to you, in your compassion you heard from heaven and rescued them time and again.

Nehemiah 9:32

9:32 “So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ²⁵  – do not regard as inconsequential ²⁶  all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!

Nehemiah 9:35

9:35 Even when they were in their kingdom and benefiting from your incredible ²⁷  goodness that you had lavished ²⁸  on them in the spacious and fertile land you had set ²⁹  before them, they did not serve you, nor did they turn from their evil practices.

Nehemiah 13:5

13:5 He made for himself a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping ³⁰  the grain offering, the incense, and the vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil as commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gate keepers, and the offering for the priests.

Nehemiah 13:19

13:19 When the evening shadows ³¹  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ³²  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ³³  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

[1:11]  ¹ tn The interjection אָנָּא (’anna’) is an emphatic term of entreaty: “please!” (BDB 58 s.v.; HALOT 69-70 s.v.). This term is normally reserved for pleas for mercy from God in life-and-death situations (2 Kgs 20:3 = Isa 38:3; Pss 116:4; 118:25; Jonah 1:14; 4:2) and for forgiveness of heinous sins that would result or have resulted in severe judgment from God (Exod 32:31; Dan 9:4; Neh 1:5, 11).

[1:11]  ² tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”

[1:11]  ³ tn Heb “fear.”

[1:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “grant compassion.” The words “to me” are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style in English.

[1:11]  ⁵ tn The vav (ו) on וַאֲנִי (va’ani, “Now, I”) introduces a disjunctive parenthetical clause that provides background information to the reader.

[2:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “If upon the king it is good.” So also in v. 7.

[2:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “queen,” so most English versions (cf. HALOT 1415 s.v. שֵׁגַל); TEV “empress.”

[2:6]  ¹² tn Heb “It was good before the king and he sent me.”

[2:13]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Well of the Serpents”; or “Well of the Jackals” (cf. ASV, NIV, NLT).

[2:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Rubbish Gate” (so TEV); NASB “Refuse Gate”; NCV “Trash Gate”; CEV “Garbage Gate.”

[2:13]  ¹⁸ tc For the MT reading שֹׂבֵר (sover, “inspecting”) the LXX erroneously has שֹׁבֵר (shover, “breaking”). However, further destruction of Jerusalem’s walls was obviously not a part of Nehemiah’s purpose.

[4:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ²² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ²³ 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?”

[4:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “And I saw.”

[4:14]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[4:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “houses.”

[8:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “like one man.”

[8:1]  ³² tn Heb “said [to].”

[9:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the” (so NAB).

[9:8]  ³⁷ tn Heb “seed.”

[9:8]  ³⁸ tn Heb “your words.”

[9:24]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the sons.”

[9:28]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “in the hand of” (so KJV, ASV); NAB “to the power of.”

[9:32]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys. The second noun retains its full nominal sense, while the first functions adjectivally: “the covenant and loyalty” = covenant fidelity.

[9:32]  ⁵² tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”

[9:35]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “great.”

[9:35]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “given them.”

[9:35]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “given.”

[13:5]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “giving.”

[13:19]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

[13:19]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

[13:19]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “caused to stand.”