Nehemiah 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ¹  and the army of Samaria ²  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ³  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

Nehemiah 5:13

5:13 I also shook out my garment, ⁴  and I said, “In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out ⁵  this matter. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied!” All the assembly replied, “So be it!” and they praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised. ⁶ 

Nehemiah 5:18

5:18 Every day one ox, six select sheep, and some birds were prepared for me, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Despite all this I did not require the food allotted to the governor, for the work was demanding on this people.

Nehemiah 10:31

10:31 We will not buy ⁷  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. ⁸ 

Nehemiah 12:44

12:44 On that day men were appointed over the storerooms for the contributions, first fruits, and tithes, to gather into them from ⁹  the fields of the cities the portions prescribed by the law for the priests and the Levites, for the people of Judah ¹⁰  took delight in the priests and Levites who were ministering. ¹¹ 

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ³ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The present translation follows the MT, but the text may be corrupt. H. G. M. Williamson (Ezra, Nehemiah [WBC], 213-14) translates these words as “Will they commit their cause to God?” suggesting that MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”) should be emended to לֵאלֹהִים (lelohim, “to God”), a proposal also found in the apparatus of BHS. In his view later scribes altered the phrase out of theological motivations. J. Blenkinsopp’s translation is similar: “Are they going to leave it all to God?” (Ezra–Nehemiah [OTL], 242-44). However, a problem for this view is the absence of external evidence to support the proposed emendation. The sense of the MT reading may be the notion that the workers – if left to their own limited resources – could not possibly see such a demanding and expensive project through to completion. This interpretation understands the collocation עָזַב (’azav, “to leave”) plus לְ (lÿ, “to”) to mean “commit a matter to someone,” with the sense in this verse “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?”

[5:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “my bosom.”

[5:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “cause to stand.”

[5:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “according to this word.”

[10:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “take.”

[10:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

[12:44]  ¹⁰ tc The translation reads מִשְּׂדֶי (missÿde, “from the fields”) rather than the MT reading לִשְׂדֵי (lisdey, “to the fields”).

[12:44]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for Judah.” The words “the people of” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, since “Judah” is a proper name as well as a place name.

[12:44]  ¹² tn Heb “standing.”