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 4:16

4:16 From that day forward, half of my men were doing the work and half of them were taking up spears, ⁶  shields, bows, and body armor. Now the officers were behind all the people ⁷  of Judah

Nehemiah 8:3

8:3 So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon ⁸  before the men and women and those children who could understand. ⁹  All the people were eager to hear ¹⁰  the book of the law.

Nehemiah 8:9-10

8:9 Then Nehemiah the governor, ¹¹  Ezra the priestly scribe, ¹²  and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them, ¹³  “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law. 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. ¹⁴  Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:17

8:17 So all the assembly which had returned from the exile constructed temporary shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. Everyone experienced very great joy. ¹⁵ 

Nehemiah 9:32

9:32 “So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ¹⁶  – do not regard as inconsequential ¹⁷  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!

[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.

[4:16]  ⁶ tc The MT reads “and spears.” The conjunction should be deleted.

[4:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the house.”

[8:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”

[8:3]  ¹² tn Heb “all who could hear with understanding.” The word “children” is understood to be implied here by a number of English versions (e.g., NAB, TEV, NLT).

[8:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the ears of all the people were toward.”

[8:9]  ¹⁶ tc The unexpected reference to Nehemiah here has led some scholars to suspect that the phrase “Nehemiah the governor” is a later addition to the text and not original.

[8:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.”

[8:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the people.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

[8:10]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[8:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “And there was very great joy.”

[9:32]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”