Nehemiah 1:4

1:4 When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, ¹  crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 2:2-3

2:2 So the king said to me, “Why do you appear to be depressed when you aren’t sick? What can this be other than sadness of heart?” This made me very fearful.

2:3 I replied to the king, “O king, live forever! Why would I not appear dejected when the city with the graves of my ancestors ²  lies desolate and its gates destroyed ³  by fire?”

Nehemiah 4:5

4:5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not wipe out their sin from before them. For they have bitterly offended ⁴  the builders! ⁵ 

Nehemiah 6:19

6:19 They were telling me about his good deeds and then taking back to him the things I said. ⁶  Tobiah, on the other hand, sent letters in order to scare ⁷  me.

Nehemiah 8:2

8:2 So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard. (This happened on the first day of the seventh month.)

Nehemiah 9:11

9:11 You split the sea before them, and they crossed through ⁸  the sea on dry ground! But you threw their pursuers ⁹  into the depths, like a stone into surging ¹⁰  waters.

Nehemiah 12:36

12:36 and his colleagues – Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani – with musical instruments of ¹¹  David the man of God. (Ezra the scribe led them.) ¹² 

[1:4]  ¹ tn Heb “sat down.” Context suggests that this was a rather sudden action, resulting from the emotional shock of the unpleasant news, so “abruptly” has been supplied in the present translation.

[2:3]  ² tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 5).

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “devoured” or “eaten” (so also in Neh 2:13).

[4:5]  ³ tn The Hiphil stem of כָּעַס (ka’as) may mean: (1) “to provoke to anger”; (2) “to bitterly offend”; or (3) “to grieve” (BDB 495 s.v. Hiph.; HALOT 491 s.v. כעס hif). The Hebrew lexicons suggest that “bitterly offend” is the most appropriate nuance here.

[4:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “before the builders.” The preposition נֶגֶד (neged, “before”) here connotes “in the sight of” or “in the view of” (BDB 617 s.v. 1.a; HALOT 666 s.v. 1.a).

[6:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “my words.”

[6:19]  ⁵ tn Or “to intimidate” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[9:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the midst of.”

[9:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “those who pursued them.”

[9:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “mighty.”

[12:36]  ⁶ tn Or “prescribed by” (NIV, NLT); TEV “of the kind played by.” The precise relationship of these musical instruments to David is not clear.

[12:36]  ⁷ tn Heb “was before them.”