Nehemiah 1:5

1:5 Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ¹  with those who love him and obey ²  his commandments,

Nehemiah 3:29

3:29 After them Zadok son of Immer worked opposite his house, and after him Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, guard at the East Gate, worked.

Nehemiah 2:8

2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ³  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ⁴  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ⁵  for the good hand of my God was on me.

[1:5]  ¹ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The phrase is a hendiadys: the first noun retains its full nominal sense, while the second noun functions adjectivally (“loyal love” = loving). Alternately, the first might function adjectivally and the second noun function as the noun: “covenant and loyal love” = covenant fidelity (see Neh 9:32).

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “keep.” The Hebrew verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to observe; to keep”) is often used as an idiom that means “to obey” the commandments of God (e.g., Exod 20:6; Deut 5:16; 23:24; 29:8; Judg 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:43; 11:11; Ps 119:8, 17, 34; Jer 35:18; Ezek 17:14; Amos 2:4). See BDB 1036 s.v. 3.c.

[2:8]  ³ tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.

[2:8]  ⁴ tc One medieval Hebrew MS, the Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate, and the Arabic read here the plural וּלְחוֹמוֹת (ulÿkhomot, “walls”) against the singular וּלְחוֹמַת (ulÿkhomat) in the MT. The plural holem vav (וֹ) might have dropped out due to dittography or the plural form might have been written defectively.

[2:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.