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, ¹  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

Nehemiah 3:2

3:2 The men of Jericho ²  built adjacent to it, and Zaccur son of Imri built adjacent to them. ³ 

Nehemiah 5:7-9

5:7 I considered these things carefully ⁴  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ⁵  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ⁶  from your own countrymen!” ⁷  Because of them I called for ⁸  a great public assembly. 5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ⁹  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ¹⁰  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

5:9 Then I ¹¹  said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong! ¹²  Should you not conduct yourselves ¹³  in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies?

[3:15]  ¹ 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.

[3:2]  ² map For the location of Jericho see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[3:2]  ³ tn Heb “it.”

[5:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “nobles.”

[5:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun מַשָּׁא (masha’) means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor (HALOT 641-42 s.v.). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to מַשָּׁאָה (masha’ah, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See the note on the word “people” at the end of v. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”

[5:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[5:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “I gave.”

[5:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

[5:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your brothers.”

[5:9]  ¹¹ tc The translation reads with the Qere and the ancient versions וָאוֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the MT Kethib, וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).

[5:9]  ¹² tn Heb “not good.” The statement “The thing…is not good” is an example of tapeinosis, a figurative expression which emphasizes the intended point (“The thing…is wrong!”) by negating its opposite.

[5:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “[should you not] walk.”