Nehemiah 4:15

4:15 It so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, ¹  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 ²  and extensive, and we are spread out on the wall, far removed from one another.

Nehemiah 5:7

5:7 I considered these things carefully ³  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ⁴  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ⁵  from your own countrymen!” ⁶  Because of them I called for ⁷  a great public assembly.

Nehemiah 7:3

7:3 I ⁸  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ⁹  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  back and constructed temporary shelters for themselves, each on his roof and in his courtyard and in the courtyards of the temple ¹²  of God and in the plaza of the Water Gate and the plaza of the Ephraim Gate.

Nehemiah 11:3

11:3 These are the provincial leaders ¹³  who settled in Jerusalem. (While other Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple attendants, and the sons of the servants of Solomon settled in the cities of Judah, each on his own property in their cities,

[4:15]  ¹ tn Heb “it was known to us.”

[4:19]  ² tn Heb “much.”

[5:7]  ³ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

[5:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “nobles.”

[5:7]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[5:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “I gave.”

[7:3]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁵ tn The words “these things” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “the house.”

[11:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “the heads of the province.”