Nehemiah 2:4

2:4 The king responded, ¹  “What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven

Nehemiah 6:3

6:3 So I sent messengers to them saying, “I am engaged in ²  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 13:17

13:17 So I registered a complaint with the nobles of Judah, saying to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?

Nehemiah 2:12

2:12 I got up during the night, along with a few men who were with me. But I did not tell anyone what my God was putting on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me, except for the one ³  I was riding.

Nehemiah 2:16

2:16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had been doing, for up to this point I had not told any of the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or the rest of the workers.

Nehemiah 2:19

2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard all this, ⁴  they derided us and expressed contempt toward us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

Nehemiah 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ⁵  and the army of Samaria ⁶  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ⁷  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

[2:4]  ¹ tn Heb “said to me.”

[6:3]  ² tn Heb “[am] doing.”

[2:12]  ³ tn Heb “the animal.”

[2:19]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text does not include the words “all this,” but they have been added in the translation for clarity.

[4:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ⁶ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The present translation follows the MT, but the text may be corrupt. H. G. M. Williamson (Ezra, Nehemiah [WBC], 213-14) translates these words as “Will they commit their cause to God?” suggesting that MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”) should be emended to לֵאלֹהִים (lelohim, “to God”), a proposal also found in the apparatus of BHS. In his view later scribes altered the phrase out of theological motivations. J. Blenkinsopp’s translation is similar: “Are they going to leave it all to God?” (Ezra–Nehemiah [OTL], 242-44). However, a problem for this view is the absence of external evidence to support the proposed emendation. The sense of the MT reading may be the notion that the workers – if left to their own limited resources – could not possibly see such a demanding and expensive project through to completion. This interpretation understands the collocation עָזַב (’azav, “to leave”) plus לְ (lÿ, “to”) to mean “commit a matter to someone,” with the sense in this verse “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?”