Nehemiah 8:5

8:5 Ezra opened the book in plain view ¹  of all the people, for he was elevated above all the people. When he opened the book, ²  all the people stood up.

Nehemiah 6:5

6:5 The fifth time that Sanballat sent his assistant to me in this way, he had an open letter in his hand.

Nehemiah 7:3

7:3 I ³  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ⁴  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ⁵  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

Nehemiah 13:19

13:19 When the evening shadows ⁶  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ⁷  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ⁸  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

Nehemiah 1:6

1:6 may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed ⁹  against you – both I myself and my family ¹⁰  have sinned.

Nehemiah 4:13

4:13 So I stationed people at the lower places behind the wall in the exposed places. ¹¹  I stationed the people by families, with their swords, spears, and bows.

Nehemiah 8:16

8:16 So the people went out and brought these things ¹²  back and constructed temporary shelters for themselves, each on his roof and in his courtyard and in the courtyards of the temple ¹³  of God and in the plaza of the Water Gate and the plaza of the Ephraim Gate.

Nehemiah 8:3

8:3 So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon ¹⁴  before the men and women and those children who could understand. ¹⁵  All the people were eager to hear ¹⁶  the book of the law.

Nehemiah 3:25

3:25 After him Palal son of Uzai worked ¹⁷  opposite the buttress and the tower that protrudes from the upper palace ¹⁸  of the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh

Nehemiah 8:1

8:1 all the people gathered together ¹⁹  in the plaza which was in front of the Water Gate. They asked ²⁰  Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had commanded Israel.

Nehemiah 11:17

11:17 Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the praise ²¹  leader who led in thanksgiving and prayer; Bakbukiah, second among his colleagues; and Abda son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

[8:5]  ¹ tn Heb “to the eyes.”

[8:5]  ² tn Heb “it”; the referent (the book) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:3]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.

[13:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

[13:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

[13:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “caused to stand.”

[1:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “have sinned.” For stylistic reasons – to avoid redundancy in English – this was translated as “committed.”

[1:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “the house of my father.”

[4:13]  ⁹ tc The MT preserves the anomalous Kethib form צְחִחִיִּים (tsÿkhikhiyyim); the Qere reads צְחִיחִים (tsÿkhikhim) which is preferred (BDB 850 s.v. צָהִיחַ; HALOT 1018 s.v. *צָהִיחַ).

[8:16]  ¹¹ tn The words “these things” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:16]  ¹² tn Heb “the house.”

[8:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”

[8:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “all who could hear with understanding.” The word “children” is understood to be implied here by a number of English versions (e.g., NAB, TEV, NLT).

[8:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the ears of all the people were toward.”

[3:25]  ¹⁵ tc The MT lacks the phrase אַחֲרָיו הֶחֱזִיק (’akharayv hekheziq, “after him worked”). This phrase is used repeatedly in Neh 3:16-31 to introduce each worker and his location. It probably dropped out accidentally through haplography.

[3:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “house of the king.”

[8:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like one man.”

[8:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “said [to].”

[11:17]  ¹⁹ tc The translation reads with the Lucianic Greek recension and Vulgate הַתְּהִלָה (hattÿhilah, “the praise”) rather than the MT reading הַתְּחִלָּה (hattÿkhillah, “the beginning”).