Nehemiah 2:11

Nehemiah Arrives in Jerusalem

2:11 So I came to Jerusalem. ¹  When I had been there for three days,

Nehemiah 3:9

3:9 Rephaiah son of Hur, head of a half-district of Jerusalem, worked on the section adjacent to them.

Nehemiah 3:12

3:12 Shallum son of Hallohesh, head of a half-district of Jerusalem, worked on the section adjacent to him, assisted by his daughters. ² 

Nehemiah 12:28-29

12:28 The singers ³  were also assembled from the district around Jerusalem and from the settlements of the Netophathites 12:29 and from Beth Gilgal and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built settlements for themselves around Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 2:17

2:17 Then I said to them, “You see the problem that we have: Jerusalem is desolate and its gates are burned. Come on! Let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that this reproach will not continue.”

Nehemiah 7:3

7:3 I ⁴  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ⁵  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ⁶  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

Nehemiah 1:2-3

1:2 Hanani, who was one of my relatives, ⁷  along with some of the men from Judah, came to me, ⁸  and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem. ⁹ 

1:3 They said to me, “The remnant that remains from the exile there in the province are experiencing considerable ¹⁰  adversity and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been burned down!” ¹¹ 

Nehemiah 4:22

4:22 At that time I instructed ¹²  the people, “Let every man and his coworker spend the night in Jerusalem and let them be guards for us by night and workers by day.

Nehemiah 7:2

7:2 I then put in charge over Jerusalem ¹³  my brother Hanani and Hananiah ¹⁴  the chief of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many do.

Nehemiah 12:27

The Wall of Jerusalem is Dedicated

12:27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, ¹⁵  they sought out the Levites from all the places they lived ¹⁶  to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication joyfully with songs of thanksgiving and songs accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

Nehemiah 2:13

2:13 I proceeded through the Valley Gate by night, in the direction of the Well of the Dragons ¹⁷  and the Dung Gate, ¹⁸  inspecting ¹⁹  the walls of Jerusalem that had been breached and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

Nehemiah 3:8

3:8 Uzziel son of Harhaiah, a member of the goldsmiths’ guild, worked on the section adjacent to him. Hananiah, a member of the perfumers’ guild, worked on the section adjacent to him. They plastered ²⁰  the city wall of Jerusalem ²¹  as far as the Broad Wall.

Nehemiah 4:7

4:7 (4:1) ²²  When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem ²³  had moved ahead and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they were very angry.

Nehemiah 12:43

12:43 And on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard from far away.

Nehemiah 13:15

13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them on the day that they sold these provisions.

Nehemiah 13:19

13:19 When the evening shadows ²⁴  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ²⁵  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ²⁶  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

[2:11]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:12]  ² tc The reference to daughters, while not impossible, is odd in light of the cultural improbability that young women would participate in the strenuous labor of rebuilding city walls. All other such references in the Book of Nehemiah presuppose male laborers. Not surprisingly, some scholars suspect a textual problem. One medieval Hebrew MS and the Syriac Peshitta read וּבָנָיו (uvanayv, “and his sons”) rather than the MT reading וּבְנוֹתָיו (uvÿnotayv, “and his daughters”). Some scholars emend the MT to וּבֹנָיו (uvonayv, “and his builders”). On the other hand, the MT is clearly the more difficult reading, and so it is preferred.

[12:28]  ³ tn Heb “the sons of the singers.”

[7:3]  ⁴ tc The present translation (along with most English versions) reads with the Qere, a Qumran text, and the ancient versions וָאֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, which reads וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “until the heat of the sun.” The phrase probably means that the gates were to be opened only after the day had progressed a bit, not at the first sign of morning light (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV). It is possible, however, that the Hebrew preposition עַד (’ad), here translated as “until,” has a more rare sense of “during.” If so, this would mean that the gates were not to be left open and unattended during the hot part of the day when people typically would be at rest (cf. NLT).

[7:3]  ⁶ tn Presumably this would mean the gates were not to be opened until later in the morning and were to remain open until evening. Some, however, have understood Nehemiah’s instructions to mean that the gates were not to be left open during the hottest part of the day, but must be shut and locked while the guards are still on duty. See J. Barr, “Hebrew עַד, especially at Job i.18 and Neh vii.3,” JJS 27 (1982): 177-88.

[1:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “brothers.”

[1:2]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text does not include the words “to me”; these words were supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[1:2]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “great.”

[1:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “have been burned with fire” (so also in Neh 2:17). The expression “burned with fire” is redundant in contemporary English; the translation uses “burned down” for stylistic reasons.

[4:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “said [to].”

[7:2]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[7:2]  ⁹ tn Some have suggested that “Hananiah” is another name for Hanani, Nehemiah’s brother, so that only one individual is mentioned here. However, the third person plural in v. 3 indicates two people are in view.

[12:27]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[12:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from all their places.” The words “they lived” are implied.

[2:13]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Well of the Serpents”; or “Well of the Jackals” (cf. ASV, NIV, NLT).

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn Or “Rubbish Gate” (so TEV); NASB “Refuse Gate”; NCV “Trash Gate”; CEV “Garbage Gate.”

[2:13]  ¹² tc For the MT reading שֹׂבֵר (sover, “inspecting”) the LXX erroneously has שֹׁבֵר (shover, “breaking”). However, further destruction of Jerusalem’s walls was obviously not a part of Nehemiah’s purpose.

[3:8]  ¹¹ tc Assuming that the MT reading וַיַּעַזְבוּ (vayya’azvu) is related to the root עָזַב I (“to abandon”) – which makes little sense contextually – some interpreters emend the MT to וַיַּעַזְרוּ (vayya’azru, “they aided”), as suggested by the editors of BHS. However, it is better to relate this term to the root II עָזַב meaning “to restore; to repair” (BDB 738 s.v. II עָזַב) or “to plaster” (HALOT 807 s.v. II עזב qal.1). This homonymic root is rare, appearing elsewhere only in Exod 23:5 and Job 9:27, where it means “to restore; to put in order” (HALOT 807-8 s.v. II עזב qal.2). The related Mishnaic Hebrew noun מעזיבה refers to a “plastered floor.” This Hebrew root is probably related to the cognate Ugaritic, Old South Arabic and Sabean verbs that mean “to restore” and “to prepare; to lay” (see BDB 738 s.v.; HALOT 807 s.v.). Some scholars in the nineteenth century suggested that this term be nuanced “paved.” However, most modern English versions have “restored” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “rebuilt” (so NCV, CEV).

[3:8]  ¹² tn Heb “[the city wall of] Jerusalem.” The term “Jerusalem” probably functions as a metonymy of association for the city wall of Jerusalem. Accordingly, the phrase “the city wall of” has been supplied in the translation to clarify this figurative expression.

[4:7]  ¹² sn Chapter 4 begins here in the Hebrew text (BHS). See the note at 4:1.

[4:7]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[13:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

[13:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

[13:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “caused to stand.”