Nehemiah 2:5

2:5 and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined ¹  and if your servant has found favor in your sight, dispatch me to Judah, to the city with the graves of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.”

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 ²  the city wall of Jerusalem ³  as far as the Broad Wall.

Nehemiah 4:14

4:14 When I had made an inspection, ⁴  I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord, ⁵  and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families!” ⁶ 

Nehemiah 4:19

4:19 I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is demanding ⁷  and extensive, and we are spread out on the wall, far removed from one another.

Nehemiah 6:6

6:6 Written in it were the following words:

“Among the nations it is rumored ⁸  (and Geshem ⁹  has substantiated ¹⁰  this) that you and the Jews have intentions of revolting, and for this reason you are building the wall. Furthermore, according to these rumors ¹¹  you are going to become their king.

Nehemiah 8:7

8:7 Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah – all of whom were Levites ¹²  – were teaching the people the law, as the people remained standing.

Nehemiah 8:16

8:16 So the people went out and brought these things ¹³  back and constructed temporary shelters for themselves, each on his roof and in his courtyard and in the courtyards of the temple ¹⁴  of God and in the plaza of the Water Gate and the plaza of the Ephraim Gate.

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. ¹⁵  May your glorious name ¹⁶  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

Nehemiah 10:29

10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ¹⁷  and enter into a curse and an oath ¹⁸  to adhere to ¹⁹  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ²⁰  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ²¹  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

Nehemiah 10:33

10:33 for the loaves of presentation and for the regular grain offerings and regular burnt offerings, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the appointed meetings, for the holy offerings, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the temple of our God.

Nehemiah 13:13

13:13 I gave instructions ²²  that Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a certain Levite named Pedaiah be put in charge of ²³  the storerooms, and that Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, be their assistant, ²⁴  for they were regarded as trustworthy. It was then their responsibility to oversee the distribution to their colleagues. ²⁵ 

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 13:18-19

13:18 Isn’t this the way your ancestors ²⁶  acted, causing our God to bring on them and on this city all this misfortune? And now you are causing even more wrath on Israel, profaning the Sabbath like this!”

13:19 When the evening shadows ²⁷  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ²⁸  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ²⁹  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

[2:5]  ¹ tn Heb “If upon the king it is good.” So also in v. 7.

[3:8]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[4:14]  ³ tn Heb “And I saw.”

[4:14]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[4:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “houses.”

[4:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “much.”

[6:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “heard.”

[6:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “Gashmu”; in Neh 2:19 this name appears as Geshem. Since it is important for the modern reader to recognize that this is the same individual, the form of the name used here in the translation is the same as that in v. 19.

[6:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “is saying.”

[6:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “words.” So also in v. 7.

[8:7]  ⁶ tc The MT reads “and the Levites.” The conjunction (“and”) should be deleted, following the LXX, Aquila, and the Vulgate. That the vav (ו) of the MT is the vav explicativum (“even the Levites”) is unlikely here.

[8:16]  ⁷ tn The words “these things” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “the house.”

[9:5]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “the name of your glory.”

[10:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ¹⁰ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ¹² tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[13:13]  ¹⁰ tc Probably one should read with the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate וָאֲצַוֶּה (va’atsavveh, “and I commanded”) rather than the rare denominative verb וָאוֹצְרָה (va’otsÿrah, “and I appointed over the storeroom”) of the MT.

[13:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “be over”

[13:13]  ¹² tn Heb “on their hand.”

[13:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “brothers.”

[13:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[13:19]  ¹² tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

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

[13:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “caused to stand.”