Nehemiah 2:14

2:14 I passed on to the Gate of the Well and the King’s Pool, where there was not enough room for my animal to pass with me.

Nehemiah 7:4

7:4 Now the city was spread out ¹  and large, and there were not a lot of people in it. ²  At that time houses had not been rebuilt.

Nehemiah 4:23

4:23 We did not change clothes ³  – not I, nor my relatives, nor my workers, nor the watchmen who were with me. Each had his weapon, even when getting a drink of water. ⁴ 

Nehemiah 5:5

5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ⁵  and our children are just like their children, ⁶  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ⁷  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ⁸  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ⁹ 

[7:4]  ¹ tn Heb “wide of two hands.”

[7:4]  ² tn Heb “the people were few in its midst.”

[4:23]  ¹ tn Heb “strip off our garments.”

[4:23]  ² tc Heb “a man, his weapon, the waters.” The MT, if in fact it is correct, is elliptical and difficult. Some scholars emend the MT reading הַמָּיִם (hammayim, “the waters”) to בִּמִנוֹ (bimino, “in his right hand”; cf. NAB, NRSV) or מִינוּ(י)הֵ (heminu, “they held on the right side”).

[5:5]  ¹ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

[5:5]  ² tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

[5:5]  ³ tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

[5:5]  ⁵ sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).