Nehemiah 1:9

1:9 But if you repent ¹  and obey ²  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ³  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

Nehemiah 9:5

9:5 The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!”

“May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ⁴  May your glorious name ⁵  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

Nehemiah 9:10

9:10 You performed awesome signs ⁶  against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians ⁷  had acted presumptuously ⁸  against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day.

[1:9]  ¹ tn Heb “turn to me.”

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[1:9]  ³ tn Heb “at the end of the heavens.”

[9:5]  ⁴ tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O LORD our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Ps 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the LORD.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.

[9:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “the name of your glory.”

[9:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “signs and wonders.” This phrase is a hendiadys. The second noun functions adjectivally, while the first noun retains its full nominal sense: “awesome signs” or “miraculous signs.”

[9:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:10]  ⁹ tn Or “arrogantly” (so NASB); NRSV “insolently.”