Nehemiah 1:8

1:8 Please recall the word you commanded your servant Moses: ‘If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations. ¹ 

Nehemiah 6:2-3

6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, “Come on! Let’s set up a time to meet together at Kephirim ²  in the plain of Ono.” Now they intended to do me harm.

6:3 So I sent messengers to them saying, “I am engaged in ³  an important work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you?”

Nehemiah 6:7-9

6:7 You have also established prophets to announce ⁴  in Jerusalem ⁵  on your behalf, ‘We have a king in Judah!’ Now the king is going to hear about these rumors. So come on! Let’s talk about this.” ⁶ 

6:8 I sent word back to him, “We are not engaged in these activities you are describing. ⁷  All of this is a figment of your imagination.” ⁸ 

6:9 All of them were wanting ⁹  to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.”

So now, strengthen my hands! ¹⁰ 

[1:8]  ¹ tn Heb “peoples.”

[6:2]  ² tn It is not entirely clear whether the Hebrew word כְּפִירִים (kÿfirim) is a place-name not mentioned elsewhere in the OT (as indicated in the present translation; so also NAB, NASB) or whether it means “in [one of] the villages” (so, e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT; see BDB 499 s.v.; HALOT 493 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it in the latter sense. Some scholars connect this term with the identically spelled word כּפירים (“lions”) as a figurative description of princes or warriors (e.g., Pss 34:11; 35:17; 58:7; Jer 2:15; Ezek 32:2, 13; Nah 2:14; see HALOT 493 s.v.): “let us meet together with the leaders in the plain of Ono.”

[6:3]  ³ tn Heb “[am] doing.”

[6:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “call.”

[6:7]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “Let us consult together.”

[6:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “We are not according to these matters that you are saying.”

[6:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “For from your heart you are inventing them.”

[6:9]  ⁶ tn The participle has a desiderative nuance here, describing the desire of the subject and not necessarily the actual outcome. See also v. 14.

[6:9]  ⁷ tn The statement “So now, strengthen my hands” is frequently understood as an implied prayer, but is taken differently by NAB (“But instead, I now redoubled my efforts”).