Nehemiah 3:1

The Names of the Builders

3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest and his priestly colleagues ¹  arose and built the Sheep Gate. They dedicated ²  it and erected its doors, working as far as the Tower of the Hundred ³  and ⁴  the Tower of Hananel.

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 ⁵  of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.

Nehemiah 5:15

5:15 But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to ⁶  forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.

Nehemiah 7:3

7:3 I ⁷  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ⁸  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ⁹  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

Nehemiah 8:16

8:16 So the people went out and brought these things ¹⁰  back and constructed temporary shelters for themselves, each on his roof and in his courtyard and in the courtyards of the temple ¹¹  of God and in the plaza of the Water Gate and the plaza of the Ephraim Gate.

Nehemiah 9:29

9:29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹²  will live. They boldly turned from you; ¹³  they rebelled ¹⁴  and did not obey.

Nehemiah 9:35

9:35 Even when they were in their kingdom and benefiting from your incredible ¹⁵  goodness that you had lavished ¹⁶  on them in the spacious and fertile land you had set ¹⁷  before them, they did not serve you, nor did they turn from their evil practices.

Nehemiah 10:31

10:31 We will not buy ¹⁸  on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan. ¹⁹ 

Nehemiah 10:37

10:37 We will also bring the first of our coarse meal, of our contributions, of the fruit of every tree, of new wine, and of olive oil to the priests at the storerooms of the temple of our God, along with a tenth of the produce ²⁰  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ²¹ 

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.

[3:1]  ¹ tn Heb “his brothers the priests.”

[3:1]  ² tn Or “consecrated” (so NASB, NRSV); KJV, ASV “sanctified”; NCV “gave it to the Lord’s service.”

[3:1]  ³ tc The MT adds קִדְּשׁוּהוּ (qidshuhu, “they sanctified it”). This term is repeated from the first part of the verse, probably as an intentional scribal addition to harmonize this statement with the preceding parallel statement.

[3:1]  ⁴ tc The translation reads וְעַד (vÿ’ad, “and unto”) rather than the MT reading עַד (ad, “unto”). The original vav (ו) was probably dropped accidentally due to haplography with the final vav on the immediately preceding word in the MT.

[3:13]  ⁵ 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).

[5:15]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew term אַחַר (’akhar) is difficult here. It normally means “after,” but that makes no sense here. Some scholars emend it to אַחַד (’akhad) and supply the word “day,” which yields the sense “daily.” Cf. TEV “40 silver coins a day for food and wine.”

[7:3]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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.

[8:16]  ¹⁷ tn The words “these things” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the house.”

[9:29]  ²¹ tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[9:29]  ²² tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

[9:29]  ²³ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

[9:35]  ²⁵ tn Heb “great.”

[9:35]  ²⁶ tn Heb “given them.”

[9:35]  ²⁷ tn Heb “given.”

[10:31]  ²⁹ tn Heb “take.”

[10:31]  ³⁰ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

[10:37]  ³³ tn Heb “a tithe of our land.”

[10:37]  ³⁴ tn Heb “of our work.”