Nehemiah 2:8

2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ¹  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ²  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ³  for the good hand of my God was on me.

Nehemiah 2:13

2:13 I proceeded through the Valley Gate by night, in the direction of the Well of the Dragons ⁴  and the Dung Gate, ⁵  inspecting ⁶  the walls of Jerusalem that had been breached and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

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 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 ⁷  the city wall of Jerusalem ⁸  as far as the Broad Wall.

Nehemiah 3:13

3:13 Hanun and the residents of Zanoah worked on the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars, in addition to working on fifteen hundred feet ⁹  of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.

Nehemiah 3:15

3:15 Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, worked on the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, put on its roof, and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars. In addition, he rebuilt the wall of the Pool of Siloam, ¹⁰  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

Nehemiah 4:7

4:7 (4:1) ¹¹  When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem ¹²  had moved ahead and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they were very angry.

Nehemiah 4:15

4:15 It so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, ¹³  God frustrated their intentions. Then all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work.

Nehemiah 4:19

4:19 I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is demanding ¹⁴  and extensive, and we are spread out on the wall, far removed from one another.

Nehemiah 6:1

Opposition to the Rebuilding Efforts Continues

6:1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it (even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates),

Nehemiah 6:6

6:6 Written in it were the following words:

“Among the nations it is rumored ¹⁵  (and Geshem ¹⁶  has substantiated ¹⁷  this) that you and the Jews have intentions of revolting, and for this reason you are building the wall. Furthermore, according to these rumors ¹⁸  you are going to become their king.

Nehemiah 13:21

13:21 But I warned them and said, ¹⁹  “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!” ²⁰  From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath. ²¹ 

[2:8]  ¹ tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.

[2:8]  ² tc One medieval Hebrew MS, the Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate, and the Arabic read here the plural וּלְחוֹמוֹת (ulÿkhomot, “walls”) against the singular וּלְחוֹמַת (ulÿkhomat) in the MT. The plural holem vav (וֹ) might have dropped out due to dittography or the plural form might have been written defectively.

[2:8]  ³ tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.

[2:13]  ⁴ tn Or “Well of the Serpents”; or “Well of the Jackals” (cf. ASV, NIV, NLT).

[2:13]  ⁵ tn Or “Rubbish Gate” (so TEV); NASB “Refuse Gate”; NCV “Trash Gate”; CEV “Garbage Gate.”

[2:13]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[3:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “one thousand cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long, so this section of the wall would be about fifteen hundred feet (450 m).

[3:15]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew word translated “Siloam” is הַשֶּׁלַח (hashelakh, “water-channel”; cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV, TEV, CEV “Shelah”). It apparently refers to the Pool of Siloam whose water supply came from the Gihon Spring via Hezekiah’s Tunnel built in 701 B.C. (cf. Isa 8:6). See BDB 1019 s.v. שִׁלֹחַ; W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 372. On the etymology of the word, which is a disputed matter, see HALOT 1517 s.v. III שֶׁלַח.

[4:7]  ¹⁶ sn Chapter 4 begins here in the Hebrew text (BHS). See the note at 4:1.

[4:7]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “it was known to us.”

[4:19]  ²² tn Heb “much.”

[6:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “heard.”

[6:6]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “is saying.”

[6:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “words.” So also in v. 7.

[13:21]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew text includes the words “to them,” but they have been excluded from the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:21]  ²⁹ tn Heb “I will send a hand on you.”

[13:21]  ³⁰ sn This statement contains a great deal of restrained humor. The author clearly takes pleasure in the effectiveness of the measures that he had enacted.